10

Penelope heard her sister coming long before she appeared in the doorway.

They all heard her. It would be impossible not to hear Cassandra screaming and carrying on. And she stomped everywhere.

"Where is he?" Cassandra didn't bother to lower her voice. Not even here, in the room where their father sat and presided over matters in their realm. She was spoiled. Damn near to a fault.

"Cassandra. Surely you have noticed that we are conducting business." Adam was a tall blonde who leaned against the wall near the doorway. He spoke, mainly because it was often Adam who could calm Cassandra when she got into one of her moods.

"I do not care." She said through clenched teeth. Her eyes settled on her father. Haden looked back at her with mild dark eyes, a neutral expression on his handsome features. Although Penelope was 30 and Cassandra 28, Haden barely looked old enough to be their father. He had been mistaken as their brother on occasion, by people who should have known better.

"Clear the room. I will have a moment with my daughters." Haden finally said, nodded at the chair to his left. Cassandra sneered at Penelope, who sat to their father's right, as she took the seat he had indicated. In moments the three of them were alone. "Now. Calmly. What is the problem?"

"He is gone. I can find him nowhere." Cassandra still spoke through clenched teeth, but she lowered her voice.

Penelope had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from smirking. She could see how angry Cassandra was considering her dark eyes were nearly completely red. Cassandra's abilities relied on her emotions. Penelope was grateful, once again, that her abilities were a bit more subtle.

Haden glanced to Penelope. He attempted to read her, something that was so simple he could do it to anyone else without a thought. Trying to read her, or hear her thoughts was like listening to the ocean through a conch shell. "Perhaps he is out hunting."

"You sent him out?" Cassandra visibly relaxed. It did not last long.

"I have had no occasion to send him anywhere." Haden turned his gaze back to his younger daughter. "One of the others…"

"They have no business in speaking to him! Or assigning him missions!" Just like that the temper was back. Her eyes flared red again. "He is mine! Mine! You promised me!"

"Cassandra. My promise does not change the fact that he has other uses besides being a plaything for your amusement." His eyes drifted to the mark on her upper arm. It was a blade, double edged, tinged red with blood. "You are more connected to him than any other. Can you not sense him?"

Cassandra huffed and shook her head. "There is nothing. He is not dead – I would know that. But he is not here!" She thumped the table with her fist.

"Return to your rooms. I shall find out if anyone else had a job for him." Haden dismissed her, ignoring her sputter of protest.

"Father…"

"Cassandra. I cannot have you charging into my meeting, causing a scene." Haden spoke as if to one of his servants, which only served to make her angrier. She had always been the favorite and hated to be denied what she wanted. "Adam? Escort my daughter to her rooms and see that she stays inside."

Adam had appeared in the doorway at the sound of his name. He led a still protesting Cassandra out of the room.

Haden spent another long moment studying Penelope's profile. "Do you know anything of this?"

Penelope met his eyes. Unlike Cassandra, who favored her father in looks, Penelope favored her mother. It was one of the reasons that Haden had spent less time catering to her whims. Her mother had been beautiful, according to all the stories she had heard. Penelope shared her light copper hair and clear blue eyes. She was Haden's constant reminder of failure. Her mother had committed suicide shortly after Penelope's birth. He had been a bit overzealous in his eagerness to have a child.

It irked Haden to no end that not only did Penelope so closely resemble her mother she also shared her mother's temperament. She did not have the rages that her sister experienced. And her powers were not based in the destructive arts which had long been a trademark of their family. Yet he let her sit in on their meetings because unlike Cassandra, Penelope could plan ahead and she could often see things that none of his other advisers could see.

"Her missing plaything is no business of mine." Penelope answered with an amused twist to her lips.

Haden peered at her for another long moment before nodding and rising to his feet. "Reconvene the others in one hour, Penny."

Penelope watched her father walk away, humor fading. She hated being called Penny. He might think he was showing affection when he said it but she thought it was his way of demeaning her. There was a grudge-fueled bond between them but she was his blood too no matter how much she resembled her mother.

The smile returned momentarily. It was so rare for Cassandra to be denied what she wanted. Penelope was not vindictive – she actually did not care that her sister was the favorite. Eventually their father would have to reap what he had sown with his headstrong younger daughter. She walked through the halls of her father's home and passed along word of the meeting. That done, she decided she would not be rejoining them in their planning.

The only reason Penelope had been in the meeting was due to her father's far-reaching properties. Many of their people did not trust Haden because he could be cruel when pushed. Most of them liked Penelope. She did not threaten or intimidate. Yet she still got things done. Haden was not sure if that was a burden or a blessing, but he used it if he could.

She wandered outside and headed south, not going anywhere in particular. Of course she knew where Cassandra's toy had gone – not the exact location, but generally speaking. She'd owed a favor, and the benefits were many in repayment – getting one over on her spoiled sister was merely the icing on the cake.

Penelope glanced up on occasion. For no reason other than she often did. There was no sky here. There was light, but the source was not known by anyone. After about three hundred feet, the air above darkened considerably. Another hundred and it was completely black. She had heard their place called the underground since she was a child, and it was as apt a description as any.

She absolutely hated it.

Penelope had never fit in here. It was the only home she had known, yet it was as if she were among strangers all the time. Of all the things she kept from her father, she knew the secret with the biggest impact, the one that he might actually kill her if he knew about it was simply the fact that she had – on several occasions – ventured out of their realm. The others made it seem hard. And she supposed to them it might be. But for her it was as simple as opening a door.

After nearly twenty minutes of wandering aimlessly through a maze of passages, she came to a familiar door. She had no clue why she felt the need to come here but here she was nonetheless. Penelope knocked softly and waiting only a moment before the door was opened.

The man who stood there looked to be Penelope's age. In reality he was older than even Haden – why he chose to live in seclusion here in the wastes instead of overseeing his own realm she could not guess. He smiled when he saw her and stepped aside so she could enter the small house.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of your company, Penelope?" He asked, gesturing at a chair that was situated next to his dining table. He had been eating lunch.

"It has been several weeks. I wondered if you had checked progress, Jason."

Jason sat across from her, still smiling rather enigmatically. "Your sister finally noted the absence, I take it?"

"Oh, yes. Five minutes ago." She smirked at that. "Is it all still holding together?"

"Quite well actually." Jason picked up his fork and resumed eating. "Although there could be some trouble. He is closer than I would have liked. If I had known before that she lived so close…"

Penelope nodded. "Why protect him?" It was a question she had wondered from time to time, but had not dared to ask. Now it seemed to be prudent to know.

"I owe him a debt. And he made his sacrifice." Jason offered her a bite of his food. Penelope shook her head and leaned back. He looked at her for a long moment, studying her carefully with his light gray-green eyes. "Will your magic hold?"

Penelope smirked again. "Of course. Until I say otherwise."

"Then we have nothing to concern ourselves with. As long as your sister – or your father – do not figure out what we have done."

"What have we done, Jason?" Penelope asked.

"We have saved some lives. Or many lives if you can look on the bigger picture as I do." He was referring to Cassandra's plaything, who was also Haden's unfailing assassin. "How many did he kill? Humans or others such as us?"

"Dozens."

"Hundreds." Jason corrected her. "More than either of us can know about. Because he was also under your sister's bidding and she is as vindictive as your father."

"And if they find out?"

"You know the risk as well as I do." Jason said softly. "Your father probably thinks he'll be able to call him back at will."

"He can try." Penelope said with a shrug. "It does not mean he will be heard."

"Are you venturing another trip? Is that why you stopped in?"

Penelope shrugged again. "No. Not yet anyway. To be honest, I do not know why I am here. I just needed to get out of the house."

"They may be too late to call him back anyway." Jason spoke as if he had not heard her explanation. He pushed his unfinished food away. "All things considered."

Penelope made a soft noise in her throat but said nothing. She only hoped that things worked out as Jason wanted them to. It had taken him over thirty years to find one particular woman. Penelope had no idea what it was that made this particular woman special – she only knew that Jason had been insistent. And an insistent Jason was nearly irresistible.

~~!~~!~~

Vi woke with a start, for a minute completely unsure about where she was.

Slowly her mind registered the fact that she was on her side, right up against a very large back. And then the afternoon she'd spent with him replayed itself, making her relax. She saw the alarm clock over Glen's shoulder and raised an eyebrow. It was four o'clock. She would have to get up soon. She had to pick Josie up at six, and get dinner together and…

Glen muttered under his breath and turned to face her. "Time to get up?" He asked, still mostly asleep.

"For me. I have to get a shower and take care of stuff." Vi closed her eyes and snuggled closer to him for a moment, enjoying the feel of his arm around her and his chest against her cheek. She was worn out, completely sated, languid…she could think of about a dozen other words that described her current state.

Vi extracted herself from his arms, smiling at his noise of protest. She had to get up and get going now, otherwise she'd never move. She slid to the edge of the bed and sat there for a moment, feeling sore in place she'd never felt sore before. She felt Glen touch her back, running a finger down her spine.

She looked over her shoulder at him, taking in his messy hair and sleepy eyes. And she could see red marks on his shoulders – made by her fingernails.

He looked as content as Vi had felt, and she hated to bring him down because…well. Thinking about responsibilities often had a way of bringing her down.

"About this…"

Glen propped himself up on one arm and continued tracing circles over her back. "What is it?"

"As…" Vi almost said 'nice'. A vast and stupid understatement. "As incredible as this has been…I don't want Josie to know."

"You don't want her to know what, exactly?" Glen sounded amused.

"Ha." Vi saw how badly she'd worded it, and shook her head. "Whatever there might be between us. And what happened today, and what might happen tomorrow, or next week, or next month. I would rather we keep it just between us. I don't know how she'd react and even more important, she's already attached to you. If something happens and she pinned all her hopes on you filling some sort of male role model need in her, and we ended up not working out, it would…I just don't want to put her through that." Vi realized she was rambling and shut her mouth, wishing she were better at verbalizing.

"Vivian…"

"If you think it'll be too hard to keep it quiet, then it might be better if this doesn't happen again." Vi went on, ignoring his attempt to interject an opinion.

Glen gripped her arm above the elbow and pulled her back until she was leaning against him. "Vivian, I wouldn't wanna hurt you or Josie for the world. If you wanna keep this just between us, I can live with that. Josie's sharp though. She'll figure it out."

"Josie figuring it out on her own is better than one of us flat telling her." Vi turned a little so she could look into his eyes. He did not look a bit put out by her demand, which was good.

"As long as we're not going to pretend this never happened, I'm ok with whatever you wanna do. I've already lost a lifetime worth of memories. I don't wanna lose this too."

"I wouldn't do that." Vi reached out and ran a finger down his jaw-line. "I said we'd get you a fresh start."

"That you did." He turned his head and kissed her fingers.

Vi smiled and stroked her thumb across his lower lip. "I need to get in the shower. You coming?"

Glen lifted an eyebrow. "I dunno if you can trust me in there."

"Oh really? Are you not tired enough?" She started to shift away from him but he caught her and pulled her down, kissing her hard on the lips.

"Plenty tired. But not done. Not nearly." He said hoarsely when he let her go. Vi grinned and slid to the edge of the bed again so she could stand up.

They ended up sharing the shower but Glen kept his hands to himself. Good thing too, because Vi's legs hurt. But she felt so good overall it didn't matter. The hot water helped. Glen washing her back and rubbing her shoulders wasn't too horrible either.

She hurried them along, because she was really behind schedule. Glen offered to get supper started, and she was grateful for that. At five til six, she was parked at the school waiting for Josie to get off the bus.

On the drive home, Josie chattered a mile a minute. Typical Josie. She'd had a great time and hinted that she might like to own a telescope. Vi did not commit to a yes or a no, because by tomorrow morning her daughter's newfound love of all things astronomy would either solidify or completely disappear. She had learned that lesson after buying Josie a guitar. And a flute. And an expensive chest set that was now collecting dust in the attic.

Luckily, Josie's excitement over her trip left her too preoccupied to notice it if her mother was acting a bit strange. Vi did not feel bad of course, but a little guilty? Definitely. She wouldn't change what had happened but that did not mean she couldn't fight with herself about it.

Back at the house, Ray had appeared. He and Glen were in the kitchen finishing up supper. Soon enough they were all seated at the table, eating dinner and listening to Josie's rambling talk about her weekend. Every now and then Glen would look at Vi with a wry smile on his lips. She smirked to herself and tried to keep up with Josie's news.

After supper Vi set about doing dishes, refusing offers of help. She rather liked the quiet half hour with her hands in soapy water. It gave her time to clear her mind. She was specifically trying not to think about the more physical aspect of their day together. Instead she focused on the house they had visited that morning.

Glen had remembered some things. The key. His room. But the rest of the house he'd looked on as anyone would – it was old, empty, dusty and sort of depressing.

So now the big question was did he want to remember? Did she want him to remember? Vi's main problem was that she did not like surprises. She liked Glen as he was, but still wondered about what sort of baggage he was carrying that he did not even know about.

Vi drained her dishwater and dried her hands on a towel before turning to wipe down the table. Ray had come back in at some point. He sat at the table, scribbling away in his notebook. She's been so lost in thought she hadn't heard him enter the kitchen.

She raised an eyebrow and worked around him, cleaning the table before taking a seat and waiting him out. Finally he looked up at her. He was smiling, but he also looked wary. Vi took the notebook and read over his neat printing.

Vi looked up at him in surprise a few moments later. "You want to move out?"

He smiled again and tapped the notebook. Vi didn't need to read it again. She got it. He had written that he and Rick got on well, and that he thought it was time he got on with running the ranch full time. And since Rick wasn't married either, and they were closer than brothers, it made sense. He wanted to remodel the bunkhouse Rick was using and turn it into a home for the both of them.

"If you think you're ready for that, I won't try to make you stay." Vi obviously surprised him in return by not arguing. She smiled at that. Ray reached over to pat her hand. "Have you already told Josie?"

He got a troubled look on his features as he shook his head.

"Well. It's not like you're moving to Alaska. You'll be a five minute walk away." Vi surprised him again by saying that, she could tell. He reached for the notebook and wrote something else down before turning it back to her. Vi read it over with a slight frown. He'd asked about the old place, the house that had burned down. "I'll take care of it."

At that Ray covered her hand again. Vi looked into his eyes and saw sympathy there. It made her feel like crying. "I mean it. Maybe it is finally time to let it all go. Even that."

He smiled sadly and nodded. And spoke – which was another surprise for Vi. Of course, it came out very slurred and low, as if Ray was speaking through a mouthful of wet cotton but she understood it anyway. "Let him go."

She smiled grimly. "I'm trying. When are you planning on going?" She asked, turning the conversation back to his move. He winked and help up two fingers. "Two weeks? You can renovate in two weeks?"

Ray nodded and grinned. He seemed happier. More at peace. It was something she had not seen in years. It was strange, but she was so happy for him at the same time…maybe his step forward could help her. She could hope anyway.

They decided to hold off telling Josie, because neither wanted to ruin her current good mood. It was hard to gauge what her reaction to things would be. Part of it was losing her father, but the rest was purely new teenager mood swings.

But for that night, they had a good time. Josie brought out a stack of board games and they played a few games before it was time for her to head to bed. Whether Josie sensed all the changes or not it was hard to say. She was her usual, hyper talkative self. She even went to take a shower and get ready for bed without her usual arguments for a later bedtime. Ray excused himself shortly after that, because they were going to get an early start the next morning working at the bunkhouse. Glen had offered to help – apparently Ray had told him while Vi had been out picking up Josie.

"You need a hand with that?" Glen asked from behind her as Vi sorted the games and put them up. It made her smile.

"Seriously. Stop."

"Stop what?" He asked, smiling a little.

"Always trying to help me. It's starting to get a little ridiculous."

"Well, I was just trying to be nice." He said, grinning at her tone.

Vi smirked at that and finished stacking the boxed. "Here. You can throw them in the closet. And you'll get a gold star for helping for the day."

"Pretty sure I earned that earlier today." He winked and picked up the games, heading for the closet.

Vi snickered and refused to comment on that. Instead she headed upstairs to get ready for bed. She stopped to give Josie a kiss goodnight before going to her own room. By the time she had brushed her teeth and hair and changed into her pajamas the rest of the house was quiet. She slid into bed and pulled the blanket up to her chin, tired, a bit sleepy. And lonely. It was odd to feel that way, especially after the day she'd had but there it was. Hell, maybe it was because of the day she'd spent.

She toyed for a moment with the idea of going down the hall and slipping into bed with Glen. Not that she was remotely limber enough for another go-round with him. She had not realized how much she missed sleeping with someone. Actual sleeping, curled up together. Vi smiled sleepily. And thought about Josie's reaction to that – on top of learning that her grandfather was moving out of the house, waking up to find her mother in bed with their new friend might put the kid into orbit. Vi figure that they should just take it slow, and let things progress as they would without forcing it. Glen seemed willing enough to abide by that, for which she was grateful. Things had definitely taken a turn for the interesting around their house. There was no denying it.