Where would they go? Linus could barely walk.
Voices floated from the kitchen. There they are.
I ran down the stairs and headed to the kitchen through a short hallway and almost bounced off Arabella going very quickly in the opposite direction.
“You do not want to go in there,” Arabella hissed and took off.
Oh for the love of . . . I marched down the hallway into the kitchen.
Mom, Grandma Frida, and Alessandro’s mother looked at me.
“Is there something you need?” Mom asked me. Her tone suggested that there was absolutely nothing I needed.
“Have you seen Ev . . . Grandmother Victoria and Grandfather Linus?”
“They are on the western balcony,” Grandma Frida said.
“Thank you,” I squeaked and escaped.
The western balcony was one of my favorite spots in the main house. It was on the third floor, a part of the same covered veranda that connected to Arabella’s tower by a breezeway. Spacious and guarded by a thick stone rail, it was quiet and lovely, and offered a beautiful view of the rolling green that was southeast Texas.
Linus and Victoria sat in the chairs with a small table between them. The table held two glasses of iced tea and what was most likely a plate of Arabella’s patented “vegan muffins.”
Nobody was screaming. I took it as a good sign.
“There you are,” Linus said.
I put the rubber band machine gun on the table and took the third chair.
“What is this?” Victoria asked.
“A projectile weapon.” Linus picked it up and pressed the hidden trigger. The rubber bands shot into the air. “Rudimentary and clumsily made, but functional.”
He ran his hand over the weapon. A hint of grass-green magic nipped at the modified yarn swift.
“Too complex for a toddler, too simple for a teenager,” Linus said, putting the gun back on the table. “Who is our mystery hephaestus mage?”
“Arthur.”
Linus spun around in his chair to look at me.
“He telekinetically assembled it in midair from his grandmother’s yarn swift, thread, bands, and some pushpins. Nevada is upset about the pushpins.”
“Of course she is,” Victoria said. “They are sharp.”
Linus picked the weapon up and held it gingerly as if it were the holy grail.
“Congratulations,” Victoria said dryly. “You finally got one.”
“Why is he building weapons?” I asked. “He can’t possibly understand shooting someone.”
“He doesn’t know he’s building weapons,” Linus said. “His magic is informing him that some things in his environment can be manipulated. Rubber bands are stretchy, metal pins are stiff, thread can connect things, this wooden thing rotates. He is combining them in various ways to make things slide and snap. It’s instinctive. He could make a moving sculpture next.”
“So why is it called hephaestus magic?” I asked.
“Because making guns is the most fun,” Linus said.
“Both of you lied to me,” I said.
“We lie to everyone. Why should you be different?” Victoria said.
“Because I am family. I do love you, Grandmother Victoria. But that doesn’t undo things that you’ve done. Setting aside how our father was born—because I don’t even know where to start there—you put Nevada through torture. You concocted a huge scheme that would’ve branded Connor as a human trafficker and rapist.”
Linus stared at her. “Victoria!”
“I had no intention of actually publicizing it,” she said.
“But you let Nevada think that you would. I can’t just sweep it under the rug. She knows. I know. You have to deal with it.”
I turned to Linus. “I’ve read the Conspiracy file.”
“Well, there is that,” he said.
“You didn’t tell me you were my grandfather. Why?”
He didn’t say anything.
“He’s afraid of rejection. He was an absentee father,” Victoria said. “Now he’s trying to be the benevolent grandfather. He was afraid that if the lot of you knew, you would shut him out of your lives.”
“That’s still a distinct possibility,” I said. “Arthur needs you, but I don’t. I can just quit being a Deputy Warden and a Tremaine, and never lose any sleep over it.”
“You want something,” Linus said.
“Arkan has a passive field.”
“Do tell,” Victoria said.
I laid it out for them, together with Konstantin’s offer.
“The nerve,” Victoria hissed.
“You can’t hurt him,” Linus told her.
“Never mind Konstantin. You are both horrible people, but you have decades of experience between you. I need to know how we can kill Arkan tomorrow. Brainstorm. Make some calls. Or he will kill Alessandro and I will run away to the Russian Imperium, and you will never see me again.”
We all knew it was an empty threat, but I felt good making it and I sounded convincing.
Victoria looked at Linus. “Go ask him.”
He growled and leaned back in his chair.
“You’re being greedy,” she said.
“I’m trying to protect them.”
Victoria shrugged. “There is a difference between protecting and shackling someone. I know where that line is. I cross it all the time. You don’t have to help. Just withdraw your opposition.”
“Do you trust Arabella’s judgment?” Linus asked me.