On Wednesday, Lady arrived, her motorcycle loaded with so many suspicious parcels that Nero knew she'd come bearing enough firepower to blast the Nilepoch into the next century even without its time-stealing power. "You'd better park that thing in the garage," he told her when he met her at the street. "I don't want this whole neighborhood blown up if somebody decides to get light-fingered with your luggage."

"I was going to suggest that, myself." Lady dismounted the bike and stretched. "You got those new locks installed, right?"

"Yeah. And there's plenty of space, now that the van is out of the picture."

Lady slid her sunglasses down her nose to peer at him over their rims. "Run that by me again?"

Briefly Nero filled her in on the damage to their vehicle and his encounter with the teenage girl at the hotel. "So that's one mystery solved, but about a dozen more dumped on the table."

"Starting with why a hunter would be summoning demons." Lady shook her head. "Why don't you open the garage, and we can continue this discussion after I've parked the bike."

When they entered the house several minutes later, Rosso and Zaffiro were lounging on the sofa in the living room—Zaffiro with a novel in his lap, and Rosso flopped on his stomach with a book of puzzles in front of him. Lady slowly removed her glasses, her eyes locked on the children. "Wow," she murmured. "It really is them."

The boys looked up and fixed curious gazes on the new guest. Nero had grown accustomed to the twins' appearance, but Lady's comment made him notice how much they were starting to resemble their adult selves: Rosso's hair was loose and a bit messy, while Zaffiro kept his pushed back from his face. Rosso's easy, lopsided grin was less restrained than Zaffiro's thoughtful smile. Though they remained inseparable, their personalities were as disparate as their faces were similar.

The twins waited expectantly for an introduction, and Nero beckoned them over. "This is Miss Lady. She'll be staying with us for a while." He pointed at each boy. "Zaffiro. Rosso. I don't think you'll have any trouble telling them apart."

"No, I won't." Lady continued gazing at the children. "You two have gotten a lot bigger since the last time I was here."

Nero nodded. "They outgrew the crib, so we had to get another set of bunks. Which reminds me…" He picked up the saddlebags Lady had carried in. "Unless you really want to be on the couch again, I thought you could stay in Flavia's room. She's got the only spare bed."

Lady laughed. "As long as Little Miss actually lets me sleep, and doesn't keep demanding more gymnastics tricks all night."

"She's only four. Trust me, she sleeps more than anybody in the house." Nero grinned at her. "You know, you can tell her no, if she pesters you too much."

"I don't have the heart to. She gets so excited about every little thing." Lady followed Nero into the tiny bedroom and sat on the bed to remove her tall boots. "This is cozy."

"Just don't bang your head on the ceiling." Nero tapped the sloping plaster overhead. "I've clocked myself more than once, getting out of bed."

"You sleep in here?" Lady raised an eyebrow. "Is this Kyrie's version of the doghouse?"

"As if Kyrie could hold a grudge that long." Nero rolled his eyes. "No, this used to be my bedroom, before Credo died."

"Ah. I see." The mockery vanished from Lady's voice, as it always did whenever one of them mentioned a deceased family member. That was an understanding they all shared. "Where is Kyrie, anyway?"

"She called to say she was going to pick up some groceries on her way back from the orphanage."

Lady nodded. "I guess we need to discuss our plan of action, then. Do you think—"

They were interrupted by the muted thump of a knock at the front door. Nero leaned out in the hall and listened, and the knock was repeated. It was too soon for Kyrie to be home, and he wasn't expecting anyone else. "Just a minute; let me answer that."

He opened the door to find a man in a suit, armed with a clipboard, standing outside. "Ah, good afternoon," the man said. "You must be…" He ran his index finger over a paper attached to his clipboard. "Guardians, Kyrie—no, no. Ah, here it is. Nero—"

"Yes, I am," Nero cut him off. "And I'm kinda busy, so maybe you can skip to the part where you tell me what you want?"

The besuited man stiffened. "My name is Dominic Alluno. I'm an officer of the school board. I'm afraid I need to talk to you about your children."

Nero crossed his arms. "Look, if this is about Scipio, that kid Marco started it."

Mr. Alluno adjusted his glasses. "No, I'm here about your twin boys." He peered down at his sheet again. "Rosso and Zaffiro, I believe? Very unusual names, I must say."

Nero shifted forward so his body was blocking more of the doorway. "And just where did you hear those names?"

"Why, from your foster children, of course. We asked them to verify the story."

"Just what story would that be?"

Mr. Alluno frowned. "The mother of another student reported that her son was seriously injured by two boys in the park."

Nero rolled his eyes. "Here we go."

"She brought the complaint to us, as a matter of safety. Of course we checked our records to see if there were cause for disciplinary action, and imagine our dismay when we discovered that there were no school records for twin boys at this address." He pushed his glasses up again. "So I am here to learn why your sons are truant, Mr., ah…" He glanced at his sheet again.

"They're not my sons."

Mr. Alluno frowned. "Mrs. Moretti said you told her they were your children."

"They're mine the same way Julio, Carlo, Kyle, Scipio and Flavia are, but that doesn't make them my sons."

The truant officer leaned to one side, peering past Nero's shoulder. "I must say, if they aren't your children, there's quite a coincidental resemblance."

Nero glanced back to find Rosso and Zaffiro watching the confrontation with undisguised curiosity from the hallway behind him. He suppressed a sigh. "I never said they weren't related to me. I'm taking care of them while my uncle recovers from an accident."

Mr. Alluno made a note on his clipboard. "So the boys are your first cousins, then?"

"Does it matter what their relation to me is?"

"It might, if it comes to a ruling. May I come in and meet the children?"

Nero wanted nothing more than to launch this annoying bureaucrat across the street, but he knew that anything he did could blow back on Kyrie and the rest of the children. "Sure, I guess. Let's go into the living room." He shooed the twins ahead of him and pointed to the couch. They sat dutifully and stared at Mr. Alluno as he seated himself in the armchair.

"Right, then. Hello, children." He waited for the boys to respond, but Rosso and Zaffiro merely returned his gaze. "Which of you boys is which?"

Nero leaned over the back of the sofa between the twins. "I take it you're colorblind."

Mr. Alluno blinked at him a few times. "No, I'm not. Why would you…" His eyes fell on the twins' clothing. On her shopping trip, Lady had made sure to supply enough red and blue shirts to stick with the theme for years to come, and the boys had eagerly embraced their signature colors. "Oh. I see. Right. Well, let's start with Rosso, then. Tell me, what grade are you in?"

Rosso glanced up at Nero, confused. "Grade?"

"Yes," Mr. Alluno said. "When you lived at home, with your parents, did you attend school?"

Rosso gave a swift twist of his head. "I've never been to school."

"I see." Mr. Alluno made a note on his clipboard. "And you, Zaffiro, you haven't attended school either?"

"No." Zaffiro tapped his fingers impatiently on the cover of his book. "We aren't enrolled."

"That is a very serious offense." Mr. Alluno shot Nero a severe look. "One that should have been rectified as soon as the boys arrived in your care."

"They've only been here a few weeks," Nero returned. "Besides, they already know more than your school would be teaching them at their age. They can read and write and play music and everything."

Mr. Alluno frowned. "You mean they were home-schooled?"

Nero had no idea, but he knew the twins were learning faster than Kyrie's simple alphabet lessons could account for. "If you don't believe me, ask Zaffiro to read something to you. He's holding a book."

Mr. Alluno held out his hand for the book in Zaffiro's lap and examined it. "I find it difficult to believe a child so young could already be reading at this level." His gaze swung back to Zaffiro. "Who taught you to read?"

"Mother," Zaffiro answered promptly.

Mr. Alluno opened to a random page, skimmed the first few lines, and handed the book back to Zaffiro. "Please read the first paragraph at the top left."

Zaffiro held the book high and read aloud. "For three days Prince Paul hid there without food or water. The family of minstrels could not feed him without opening the trap door and disturbing the spider web, you see, and that was what protected him."

Mr. Alluno considered him thoughtfully. "I suppose if the book had already been read to you, you might be able to guess what it said. Let's try something else." He glanced down at the stacks of leatherbound volumes beside his chair and picked up the top book. "Have you read any of these?"

Nero stiffened. "Hey, you can't ask him to read those."

"No?" Mr. Alluno flashed a predatory smile. "Afraid he won't be able to do it?"

"Those books are not age-appropriate."

"Odd, since they're sitting here in plain sight where any of your children could pick them up." He put the heavy book in Zaffiro's lap. "Just open it and start reading anywhere, my boy."

Zaffiro glanced up at Nero, who nodded tightly and hoped there weren't any grotesque illustrations on the page he chose. The boy opened the heavy book with some effort—to Nero's relief, there were no images—and glanced at the man who had handed it to him. "How much should I read?"

"Just a sentence or two will do."

Zaffiro bent his head over the text. "Quin ipsae stupuere domus atque intima Leti tartara caeruleosque implexae crinibus angues Eumenides, tenuitque inhians tria Cerberus ora atque Ixionii vento rota constitit orbis."

Mr. Alluno's mouth hung slightly ajar. "That's… that's Latin." He yanked the book away from Zaffiro and stared at it. "It's Latin."

"I heard you the first time," Nero drawled, thanking his lucky stars that the book he'd selected hadn't been one of the Order's more horrific volumes. "Told you those books weren't age-appropriate."

The man produced a handkerchief and wiped his spectacles, attempting to regain his composure. "Well. Even if the content isn't appropriate, it's not as though he knows what it means."

"I do so!" Scowling, Zaffiro pulled the heavy book back to his lap and found the passage again, keeping a finger on it as he worked through the words. "Indeed… the very halls… of the underworld… and the…" He chewed his lip. "Caeruleosque… Blue! Blue snakes…"

Nero put a hand on Zaffiro's shoulder. "That's enough, kiddo. I think Mr. Alluno has figured out by now that you're probably more educated than some of the teachers at his school."

Mr. Alluno certainly seemed very flustered, and he became even more so when Lady appeared in the doorway. She'd shed the motorcycle chaps and jacket, and was dressed in a low-cut tank top over a pair of extremely snug microshorts. "Oh, hello there. Sorry, Nero, I didn't realize you had company. I was going to start today's gymnastics lesson with the boys, but I can wait if you're busy."

"Gym… gymnastics?" Mr. Alluno echoed, his cheeks tinged pink. "I'm sorry, but who are you?"

"Lady Kalina Bolingbroke." She crossed the room and offered her hand. "I'm the boys' tutor and personal trainer." She laughed in an airy tone Nero had never heard her use before. "Well, I do teach some of the other children, too. Flavia is quite keen on gymnastics."

"You're… their tutor?" The truant officer eyed her skimpy outfit, and his eyes shifted suspiciously to Nero.

Lady nodded. "I come over every so often to visit and help out. Kyrie has made a valiant effort to keep up with their studies, but she has so many children to care for, and I didn't want the boys to fall too far behind in Latin or their athletics. And I missed them." She ruffled Rosso's hair affectionately. "I've known Nero's uncle for years. We're practically family."

"I see. And—just to be certain I understand—the lady of the house is fine with this, er, arrangement?" Mr. Alluno looked decidedly smug. "She wouldn't be surprised to find you here…" His gesture encompassed Lady's clothing. "Like that?"

Nero bristled at the insinuation that he would ever be unfaithful to Kyrie, but before he could respond, the front door opened. "Nero!" Kyrie's voice echoed through the house. "Could you—Oh!" Kyrie stopped when she saw the crowd in her living room. Mr. Alluno shot a triumphant look at Nero, but it faltered when Kyrie exclaimed, "Lady! What a lovely surprise! I didn't see your motorcycle out front." She set down the bags she was carrying and hugged Lady before turning to Mr. Alluno. "I'm sorry; I don't believe we've met. I'm Kyrie."

"This is Mr. Alluno from the school board," Nero said before the man could introduce himself. "He was coming to check up on Zaffiro and Rosso, but we've explained that they're being tutored at home. Zaffiro even gave him a demonstration of his reading skills. So everything is fine now, right?" Nero shot a pointed look at his guest.

"Er, yes." Mr. Alluno stood and mopped his forehead with his handkerchief. "I suppose everything is in order, so I'll… just… be going now." He all but ran for the door, clutching his clipboard.

When it closed behind him, Nero and Lady burst out laughing, to Kyrie's confusion. "Oh, the look on his face when Kyrie walked in," Lady choked out. "I swear he was about to pull out a camera and take blackmail photos of us."

"You should have seen his face when Zaffiro started translating the Latin." Nero shook his head. "Kyrie, you just missed a wild, wild ride."

"Evidently." She bent to pick up the groceries she'd set down. "Do I even want to know what you did to that poor man?"

"Poor man, nothing." Lady dropped into the chair Mr. Alluno had vacated. "He was harassing Nero about the twins. Said they were truant, and made some frankly insulting assertions. I heard it all from the hallway."

"So then Lady came in and said she was their private tutor—by the way, 'Lady Kalina Bolingbroke'?" Nero shot her a skeptical look.

"Well, I wasn't about to give him my real name," Lady scoffed. "What if he'd looked me up? Anyway, then the creep practically accused us of having an affair, and threatened to reveal it to you."

Kyrie blinked wide, concerned eyes at them. "Oh! Oh, dear. Are you?" Their laughter died suddenly, and they stared back at her in growing dismay. She let them suffer for a few seconds before breaking into a laugh, herself. "Now that's what I wish I had a photo of," she giggled. "Your faces!"

Nero's breath left him in a rush; his lungs had completely failed to function when he'd thought, for an instant, that she doubted him. "Not funny."

"It was a little funny," Lady admitted. She glanced over at the twins, who were still sitting on the couch, confused by the adults' laughter. "And you were pretty darn impressive." She reached over and took the book from Zaffiro's lap, skimming the pages. "Where on earth did you learn to read Latin?"

"Father taught us." Zaffiro's brow furrowed. "I think. I'm not sure."

"Us?" Nero glanced at Rosso. "You know Latin, too?"

Rosso fidgeted with his activity book. "I'm not as good at it as my brother is," he mumbled. "He's better at all the languages."

Nero was about to ask how many languages they had actually studied when Lady cut him off. "You said your father taught you?" She exchanged a glance with Nero before crouching in front of the couch. "You remember your father?"

Zaffiro shrugged. "I dream about him sometimes."

"Me, too," Rosso put in. "And Mother. And the house." He twisted to look up at Nero. "Are we ever going back there?"

Nero swallowed. He'd only seen the ruins from a distance, but considering the destruction spread across the rest of the city, he doubted there was much left of their childhood home—and their parents were long gone. Still, it was clear how desperately Rosso wanted a positive answer, and Nero hated to crush the hope in any child's eyes. "It's a long way away. You two are gonna stay with us for now, okay?"

The twins nodded, their disappointment obvious. Kyrie caught Nero's eye before bouncing the groceries higher on her hip. "You know, I could use some help putting away the food. Rosso, Zaffiro, could you help me in the kitchen?"

The boys followed her out, leaving Lady and Nero alone in the living room. "Well, that's interesting," Lady murmured. "How much do you think they remember?"

"I've been trying to figure that out. They've never questioned why we're calling them by different names, and they've never asked anything too specific, so I thought their memories were just images left over from when they were babies." Nero frowned. "But they keep talking about things they learned in their dreams. Zaffiro knows how to play violin and read Latin, and we sure as hell didn't teach him those things."

Lady's eyebrows shot upward. "Violin?"

"Yeah. I guess Vergil was a child prodigy or something." Nero snorted. "Wish I'd inherited some of his brains along with the rest."

"What about Dante? Er… Rosso, I mean."

"I've been meaning to turn him loose with my guitar to find out. He mentioned playing."

Lady paced across the room and back. "So it seems some of their trained skills have carried over, but we don't know about discrete memories. We'd need a way to test whether they can remember individual events in their lives."

"Problem is, I don't know any individual events to ask about. Has Dante ever told you anything about his childhood?"

She shook her head. "He's always been pretty tight-lipped about his past. Maybe Trish knows more, since she mentioned… You know. About Vergil."

Nero suppressed a shudder. "Yeah. Any idea when she's getting here?"

"Probably not for a few days. Morrison said she'd had to go pretty far out of town for that job." Lady stretched her arms over her head. "I guess in the meantime, we just have to see if they dream up anything with details instead of just general knowledge."

"I guess so." Nero glanced toward the kitchen. "Is it wrong of me to hope they don't?"

Lady's eyes softened. "No. Knowing what they went through as kids, I'm hoping the same thing."

NOTES:

I couldn't resist having a little Vergil read… a little Vergil. *rimshot* The Latin text is quoted from Publius Vergilius Maro's Georgicon, book IV. It describes Orpheus's return journey from the underworld—a topic I thought the Order might reasonably be interested in.

The other quote is from The Mystery of the Silver Spider by Robert Arthur, a middle-grade entry in the series The Three Investigators.