Getting the two back to the town ran into a few immediate problems.
"We can't just drop them off in town," Ophelia said. "Between traffic cameras and private homes, it's likely our cars would be seen."
"Would it be that big of a deal?" Jim asked.
Every adult stared at him in disbelief. Barbara gestured at her son. "Jim, the cover story is that you and Claire were kidnapped andforced to fight for your lives for almost half a year by an organized gang. I don't care how much help the Janus order will give, there are going to be federal agents who will be doing everything they can to find out who brought you and shut them down. You've never dealt with the FBI on this—I did for some…" Barbara's voice trailed off. "Never mind, it was a long time ago. But they don't give up and for something like this, it will be precisely that big a deal."
"Then why won't they keep looking until they find the trolls?" Toby asked.
"You fleshbags have lots of criminals," Draal muttered. "I'd bet the Janus order knows a few they can toss to this FBeeEye."
"Maybe, but we can't do anything about that," Ophelia said. "And the simpler we keep things… the less likely we are to get caught up, unless someone starts asking about magical hells."
"So how do we get home?" Jim asked.
"The old highway—it links to the interstate so it would make sense that someone would drop you off there. It's about five miles to the outskirts of Arcadia, and you can either make it to our houses or if anyone sees you…" Ophelia shrugged. "They can call the police."
"In the morning?" Claire asked. "A walk in the sun? Count me in!"
"Good," Barbara said. "Why don't you two get ready—you've got some rags to get into." Carefully prepared rags, scrubbed of anything inexplicable. "Your parents and I need to finalize some last minute preparations."
The kids didn't seem to notice anything, as Toby went off with Jim to talk about his totally "post-apoc" costume. Barbara waited until they were out of hearing range.
"It's normal," she said, forestalling Javier's question. "Jim feels the need to protect Claire and well, he's always been sort of a mother hen." She shook her head. "I bet the fact that he had magic armor and she doesn't…"
"What about Claire?" Ophelia asked. "This obsession with weapons and armor… Walking off like that…"
"I think that Claire…" Barbara sighed. "Javier, Ophelia, understand something. I'm not a mental health professional. In fact what I'm doing now? Would probably get me yelled at under the category of 'you don't provide advice when you're not qualified to give it'. I've been doing a lot of reading, but I have to be careful about reading too much—or too little—into their behavior, especially since it's been only a week or so since they were recovered. Short term stress is a thing, and by short-term I mean can last for weeks. There's also the fact that Jim and Claire know that they have enemies…" Please not Gunmar. Please let him be locked up. The way the two kids tensed at his name let her know just how badly he terrified them. "…So we can't tell them to just toss everything away and go back to being kids. Like it or not, they know that there are people out there who see them as targets." Then Barbara gestured at the trollmarket. "And they've been attacked here. At school. In their homes. In the streets. The kids have been attacked in literally every place they would once have considered a safe space. So I don't think we can say it's an obsession with Claire as much as it is wanting to be prepared. And even if there's a bit of trauma associated with it, that's normal—many survivors of near starvation often find themselves hoarding food for a time."
"We can't let her walk—"
"Nor will we," Blinky said. "Ophelia, Javier. I or another troll will accompany Fair Claire. Her cultural misstep…" Blinky chuckled. "Well, she's a human child exposed to a totally new culture. It is to be expected, and your daughter very rarely makes the same mistake twice."
"And your son?" Javier asked. "You saw—"
"Yes." Barbara closed her eyes and pinched at the bridge of her nose. "Jim is… self-sacrificing. Sometimes too much so. So he couldn't protect Claire from everything in the Darklands, though from what we've gotten out of them, she did as much protecting as she received, and now he's going to make up for it. Fortunately, I don't think Claire will let him run roughshod over her. It's another category of things we need to watch out for, but not push on." Add it to the list.
Then, Barbara looked at Ophelia. Javier was fairly easy going, save when his daughter's virtue was brought up. Not that he minded her entering into a relationship, it just had to be when she was old enough—say, thirty or so.
On the other hand, Ophelia liked to get things done, and if they wouldn't get done on their own, make them get done. It was very laudable trait in a councilwoman that some people thought might make a stab at the State Assembly next election, but in this case…
"I want you both to remember what I've been saying. Don't push. Watch for dangerous behavior, certainly, but what issues, what trauma, long or short term, that they have, cannot be made to go away. They, with our help, have to work through it. We need to be supportive in this."
"And if they don't get better?" Ophelia said, confirming Barbara's worries.
"Then we cross that bridge when we get to it."