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The scream woke her up from a shallow sleep. She never slept deeply now, not when the kids were apart, because she knew what would happen.
Vee and King were already awake in the hallway heading for Luz’s room when Camilla joined them. Eda and Raine stepped from their room a minute later, Eda’s scroll lit up in her hands.
“I’ve messaged the usual suspects. Perry says Gus is still awake, and Harvey is going to wake Willow up.”
“Is he sure? If she’s sleeping…”
Eda smiled a wan, tired smile in the low lights of midnight. “He said she’s talking in her sleep, so it’s probably not good anyway.”
“Darius is already on his way with Hunter.” Raine said softly. They paused next to Luz’s door and waved at her. She waved back from the circle of her siblings arms, tears drying on her cheeks. “He said Hunter was still awake too. He and Gus were probably messaging each other.”
“Are the Blights on their way?”
“Mhm.” Eda went over to Camilla and showed her the message thread. “Viney’s parents and Skara’s are both staying home tonight.”
Camilla swiped through the group chat, made up of every parent in the circle of friends. Barcus had decided to stay home, and so had Jerbo. Steve might be over with Matt, but only if the boy woke up on his own. “Okay. Alador and Darius can set up the bed downstairs when they get here. Should we go to the night market and get more food for breakfast?”
Raine had vanished back into Eda’s room and now returned, fastening their cloak around their neck. “I’m on it. Do we want anything specific?”
"If you get griffin eggs and some scorn flour I can make chilaquiles and fried eggs.” It pleased her to see all the kids and Eda light up at that. She couldn’t use magic, but she’d found a million ways to be useful to her new community, and she enjoyed most of them. “Luz, Vee, King, come downstairs, the others-”
She was interrupted by a knock on the front door, and the distant sound of Raine and Darius talking. “Your brother’s here, go meet him. Eda, do we need blankets? I know the abomination ones don’t breathe very well.”
“No, mamá, they breathe too well.” Luz said in a sleep rasped voice as she carried King downstairs. Camilla stifled a shudder, and Eda laughed.
“We’ll have Willow and Amity weave something together, some vines will lighten up the abomination good.”
With that they followed the children downstairs. Darius was already in the middle of crafting a thick, durable pad of abomination goo, large enough to cover almost the entire living room. They had this down now. Everyone would bring their own pillows, and everything else was made from whole cloth as it was needed.
Luz lay down quickly, moving to rest her head on Hunter’s chest and talk quietly. Vee wedged herself up between them, and lay on Luz’s stomach, while King walked in a circle three times before curling up between Luz’s legs and Vee’s tail. This part always fascinated Camilla. She was an only child that had had only one child herself, and had not expected her daughter to acquire siblings at this late age. Yet there they were, as comfortable in each other’s spaces as the Blight siblings were.
Speaking of. There was another knock on the door, and Alador entered, followed closely by Amity and then the twins. Edric was twitchy, and Amity looked like she hadn’t slept in days. Maybe she hadn’t. The last sleep over had been three days ago at the Porters’, after Gus had a night terror, and if her children were anything to go by, they only slept well when all of them were in a room together.
She watched as Emira sat next to Luz and rubbed her back, said something softly, and laid down back to back with her. Then Amity, cradled in her sister’s arms, with one arm stretched over her to keep in contact with Luz. Then Edric, wrapped around both of his sisters as best he could with his left leg still in a cast. Alador summoned a blanket and tucked the children in. King squeaked, wiggled out, and curled back up in his previous spot over the blanket, and Alador blinked at him, then summoned another, smaller blanket to place over the youngest boy. Camilla decided not to tell him the original plan; he was awkward, and she wasn’t going to interfere with any attempt of his to bond with the children.
Gus and Willow arrived almost simultaneously, and settled in next to Hunter, Gus between them. The room quieted. There was whispering from some of the children, probably about the nightmares they’d had, but the lights were all low, and everyone was settled and still.
Now was the most stressful part of the night; the vigil. Camilla kissed her children on their foreheads and retreated to the kitchen where the other parents were gathered, closing the door behind to block the light and sound. If one of them screamed, the other children would take care of them until the adults could get there.
Gilbert Park pulled a chair out for her and she fell into it with a grateful smile, then sighed and leaned her head back, eyes closed, but listening.
“It’s been two months.” Alador said quietly. “Edric still can’t sleep if he can’t see both his sisters. If I try to get him to sleep in his own room, he sits outside their bedrooms until dawn.”
“Hunter keeps trying to sneak out to go on patrols.”
“On his own?” Harvey Park murmured, but they all knew the answer.
“No. Luz joins him, or Gus, or Amity. Or all six of them wander around town.”
“We tried to move King into his own room last week.” Camilla knew that tone, knew Eda was looking bitterly at nothing. “He woke up in such a panic that he bit Raine almost to the bone. We’re just lucky it wasn’t Camilla or Luz.”
Perry Porter shook his head, entire face furrowed with concern. “I worry about that girl constantly. I’ve told Gus to keep her out of adventures, but…”
“That won’t happen.” Camilla said in unison with Eda, and opened one eye to share a smile with her daughter’s second mother.
“I know.” said Porter.
Gilbert pulled some small rocks from his pockets and began to shape and reshape them into miniature houses. “Has anyone else tried a sleeping draught? It helped Willow sleep through the night, but -”
He paused long enough that his husband took over. “But she had nightmares. She won’t tell us what happened, but she couldn’t wake up from them. She didn’t talk for two days.”
“Well, what do we expect? Two of them-” Darius stopped, clenched his jaw, and looked towards the window. “Two of them died. Five of them were missing for almost six months. All of them lived through the end of the world. Honestly, I'm surprised they don't all lash out more.”
B
efore anyone could respond, Raine stepped quietly through the back door, laden with bags and followed by Steve and a mostly asleep Matt.
“Go join your friends, bud. We'll be in here if you need us.” Steve said gently, smoothing his brother’s cowlick.
Matt waved at them and vanished into the living room.
Camilla helped Raine and Eda drop the bags on the counter and got to work making scorn tortillas, nodding gratefully at Alador when he joined her. As long as she had a recipe for him to follow, he was the best help she could ask for. Behind her the conversation turned back to the kids.
“I know these are…unusual circumstances, but Gus’ grandmother has it in her head that I'm making things harder for him in the long run. She thinks I should keep him at home no matter how little he's sleeping.” The tips of Percy's ear tinted a faint pink. “I feel like I'm failing him. I couldn't protect him when they were fighting Belos, and I can't do it now.”
Steve pushed himself onto a counter and leaned back against the cabinets. “None of us know what we're doing right now. Camilla might have the best idea because she helped Luz through Manny's death, but most of this is an unknown for all of us. And you're doing better than Matt's mom and our dad; they just ignore the trouble he's having.”
“Odalia, too.” Alador said quietly into the bowl of maza, while Camilla tried to hide her head in a cabinet from the odd mixture of pain and flattery. “The kids never want to see her, but when they run into her she tries to lecture them about their grades.”
Everyone scoffed in disgust. Suddenly, a snore loud enough to be heard through the door ripped into the room, and Camilla clapped her hands to her mouth. It was an inappropriate time to giggle, but when another snore followed it she couldn't help it. “At least we know Ed's sleeping well.”
Alador looked towards the living room, smiling faintly. “I hope for his sake Emira wakes up first, not Amity.”
All of them stayed still, waiting quietly, until the next snore was cut off midway through, as though his mouth had been covered forcibly.
“Nope, Amity.” Eda grinned. “Sounds like the Blight brother grew another sinus polyp, Alador.”
“I'll take him to the healers tomorrow.” Alador sighed, and shook his head. “You'd think with all the witches here we'd have a healer.”
“We've got Camilla.” Raine said.
“Oh, please. I'm an animal doctor. A human realm animal doctor.” She flapped a hand nervously at the other parents, and tried not to think about how she fit into this group of extremely talented people, who always seemed to know how to approach a situation. Well, except for now, she supposed. “I think…you know, I think Darius is right. After everything these kids have been through, it's impressive that they're doing as well as they are. I mean. If the worst thing they do is check in on each other, and the worst thing they want is to be close to each other, I think that's a sign we must have done right by them. They're good kids, and they're good to each other, and that's what's important.”
When she turned to grab a hand towel to dry her hands, her stomach dropped. Everyone in the room was looking at her, listening to her intently, and even more astonishing was how affected they all appeared to be by her words. Gilbert's eyes shone with tears, and he held a hand out to her until she took it in hers.
“Are you sure, Camilla? Do you mean it?”
“I…of course.” She looked around the room, feeling the weight of so many solemn eyes on her, and dreading messing this up. She swallowed thickly, trying to push her social anxiety down. “You know, when they were stuck in the human realm, they talked about you all the time. They went out sometimes, and did their best to do normal kid stuff, but their thoughts were always here, with all of you. They missed you. And they wanted to know you were safe more than anything else. I couldn't imagine better kids to have lived with, or better friends for Luz. I'm worried about them, but really, I'm worried for them, because they've all been good kids the whole time, even if some of them needed some help to see that in themselves.”
She was rambling now, but they were all still listening, earnest and hopeful and desperate. She rubbed at her mouth nervously with her free hand. “I think we’re doing a good job, too. They need our support, and they need to know we’re here to help, and that we believe in them, and we’ve all done that. I’ve seen it. We all come together like this because of that. Because we’re willing to listen to what they need. And isn’t that the most important thing? The listening?”
The others were silent, and she felt herself begin to shake slightly. She felt like she was about to vibrate out of her skin, and suddenly knew she had lost the respect of this crowd, just as she was beginning to integrate. She was as bad at making friends as ever, and she could only hope she hadn’t messed up so badly that it would interfere with Luz’s friendships. That would be the worst possible outcome of a screw up here.
She was lost in her thoughts, completely buried in her own head, when Gilbert stood up and hugged her. She contained a squawk of surprise, but couldn’t when Harvey, then Eda, then Steve joined it. Then they were all touching her, a hug, or a hand on her shoulder, or lightly touching her arm. They looked at her with gratitude, and Gilbert and Perry both had to wipe their eyes and blow their noses, and Camilla did too, suddenly. She hadn’t cried with an adult since Manny had been diagnosed, but now she and Gilbert clutched at each other and cried onto each other’s shoulders.
It had been years since she’d had friends. Lord knows the teachers and other parents hadn’t liked her. She and Luz were outsiders in Gravesfield, and even the employees at the animal clinic kept her at arm's length. Suddenly, she understood fully why Luz had chosen to stay in this strange, terrifying place. It wasn’t any one person; it was the community she’d built here, the first one she had ever experienced.
Now Camilla was feeling it, and couldn’t stop crying. She cried until she couldn’t anymore and her eyes were sore, and her throat felt like it had been rubbed with sandpaper. They had all been so on edge for so long that none of them could contain it. She cried with everyone, and felt safe doing it. An hour later, all of them sat around the kitchen, completely wrung out.
Alador had returned to cooking, but Camilla had to sit and wait for her ibuprofen to kick in before she could bear to join him.
“I’d forgotten what it was like to have friends, until those kids came into my life.” Eda said thoughtfully from her perch in Raine’s lap. She was sipping a suppression potion, and dropping feathers she’d acquired while crying. “ Luz got me talking to my sister again, then Raine. Then…all the rest of you, I guess. I never thought my life would end up like this. I guess I never thought I'd be that lucky.”
Dawn crept in, chilly and golden. Darius checked his watch and smiled, extremely pleased. “That boy used to wake up every morning at 5:30. Couldn't get him to sleep in even if I wanted to. Now look at him.”
Camilla hummed happily and tossed the chilaquiles in the pan. “I had the same problem with him. It was hard to get him to sleep at all. Do you think he's still asleep, or do you think the others are just holding him down?”
“Hard to say.” Eda moved past them with jugs of apple blood and goblets. “I wish the night market carried apple blood boxes, this is so much to clean. Luz and King both sleep like logs, and Vee's pretty hard to move when she's settled, so it could be either.”
“I'm surprised anyone is willing to sleep next to Willow.” Harvey held one plate after another out to Camilla to be filled, then passed them down to his husband. “I remember, one time when she was five? Six? She had a nightmare and crawled into our bed. I woke up when she kicked me in the face.”
Darius laughed, and clapped his hand over his mouth, all of them turning to the door. When no children appeared, breakfast prep continued.
Next to Camilla, Perry flipped fried griffin eggs. “I remember Gus and Willow's first sleepover at our place. They'd watched something scary on the crystal before bed, and they both woke me up screaming because Gus accidently conjured an illusion of the monster in his room.”
“Edric and Emira used to do that to Amity on purpose. I'd get so mad at them, and then they'd make an illusion of me with my face completely red, and get Amity laughing, and then I couldn't stay mad.” Alador said from where he stood next to Darius, both of them conjuring folding chairs.
“Mom?” Everyone stopped, and turned to Luz, who stood in the doorway, groggy eyed, a sleepy King in her arms.
“Sí, mi hija?”
“Edric got abomination goo between his teeth while we were sleeping and it solidified and Amity and Em both tried to get it out, but it got his retainer stuck in his mouth.”
“Never a dull moment with these kids around.” Darius said in a tone of exasperation that no one believed.
“Come on, let's go help him before his mouth gets stuck like that forever.”
“That can happen?” Luz followed him, eyes wide, and Camilla returned to plating breakfast.
A few minutes later Darius returned with the entire gaggle of children, all shuffling and yawning, their hair a mess and their eyes half closed. They collapsed in chairs near their parents, and half of them tried to fall back asleep at the table, while the other half began to poke at their food.
“Did everyone sleep well?” Camilla smoothed Luz's hair back from her face.
They all murmured affirmatives, and then Matt began to tease Gus, which woke him up enough to tease Hunter, which made him go beet red and bother Luz, who passed it on to Vee.
“Kids, you just woke up. Can we at least have breakfast before you all start fighting?” Eda caught her youngest around his middle and picked him up to sit on her hip. “Quit it, you. You have your own plate, you don't have to eat off someone else's.”
“Gus, sit up before you eat, I don't want you to choke.”
“Willow, your hair is in your food, sweetheart. Come here, I'll braid it.”
“Hunter, leave your sisters alone.”
“Edric, leave your sisters alone.”
“Vee, no shape-shifting at the table.”
“Edric, leave your sisters alone!”
They cajoled and lectured and fussed at the children until they'd all finished their breakfasts, then Eda stood up. “Okay, various children, both mine and others; we cooked, which means you clean. And if I hear anything break -” she eyed Matt and Edric significantly “- then you don't eat at the next sleepover. Any questions?”
“No, Eda.” They all managed to say it in identical long-suffering tones.
“Good. I'm going to take a nap, when you're done cleaning go terrorize the outside.”
The kids dispersed to clean, and the adults broke down the living room and gathered their child or children's pillows, then went their own ways with waves and promises of more adult focused hangouts. Darius stayed behind the longest to plan Hunter's schedule for the coming week, but when Camilla yawned wide enough to pop her jaw he cut the conversation short.
Eda pushed her towards the couch. “Go sleep. Darius can message us with the rest of it.”
“We should -” She yawned again, jaw tendons creaking, and collapsed sideways with Luz's pillow. “We should set up a calendar we can all edit. That way we always know where he's supposed to be.”
“Yes, very good, excellent idea. Now sleep, this will all still be here waiting for you when you wake up.” Darius squeezed her shoulder warmly, and left, leaving her with Eda and the sounds of the kids arguing over who had to take the trash out for the garbage worm.
I'm happy here, she realized with no real surprise. Things were harder, emotionally, but with so many people carrying the burden with her it hardly felt like it. “Eda. Thank you for taking care of Luz. Thank you for being her friend. And mine.”
The other woman flushed and waved her away, then pulled an eye mask down on Camilla's head. “Well. You're welcome. Thank you for letting me have her sometimes.”
Silence for a minute. Warmth from the fire was lulling Camilla to sleep, but she was still awake enough to hear Eda when she said; “And Camilla? Thank you for being my friend, too.”