“Amos, I can’t tell you how I appreciate this,” Colene said. “What can I do for you in return?”
He laughed. “Colene, you know better than that! I never accept anything from a student except her homework.”
“And you know me better, too, Amos,” she said evenly. “I never made the wrong kind of offer. But if you can save Burgess, I’ll owe you the equivalent of a life. We won’t be here on Earth long; what can I give back that’s worth a life?”
“There is a life I would like to recover,” he said. “But not even magic can do that. So forget it, Colene; you have intrigued me, and I would like to help you if I can. No other deal is required.”
Colene did not pursue the matter, but Nona knew she was not dismissing it. She was reading his mind to fathom the nature of his concern. The odd concept Sin Eater appeared. Nona also found that she liked this teacher; he was intelligent and principled.
Nona nudged Colene. “You must warn him about Darius, and Seqiro.”
“For sure!” Colene agreed. “As if I could forget them.” She turned to the man. “Some other things you need to know. All part of the confidence.”
Amos raised an eyebrow. “Stranger than what you have shown me so far?”
“Equivalently strange. One is Darius. He’s my man. Don’t laugh; I mean to marry him. Now.”
“Not in this state,” Amos said.
“I’m fourteen. There are states where—”
“Yes, Texas is one. With parental permission.”
“I’ll get it. Anyway, Darius is a regular man, but he comes from a magic world, and he doesn’t speak our language any more than Nona does. So if he tells you he can conjure himself and others to other places, or multiply joy, believe it. He can, where he lives. He’s not crazy.”
“Any more than Nona is,” Amos agreed.
“You would probably think me so, if I told you more about my Julia Mode,” Nona said, laughing.
“Julia? As in Julia sets?”
“Colene calls it the Mandelbrot set. It is the pattern of my reality.”
“Right,” Colene said. “And Seqiro—he’s a telepathic horse.”
He looked at Colene. “You are asking me to take a lot on faith.”
“It’s an overload, all at once,” Colene agreed. “Just take it as it comes, Amos, and worry about faith later. Burgess is the one who counts, right now, and he’s so strange he’ll freak you out at first, but he’s my friend.”
Amos shook his head. “You always were a remarkable girl, Colene. I’m still sorry I ever agreed to keep your first confidence, months ago. I fear I will regret this one more.”
“Well, after we go, I guess you can say what you want. But I think folk will think you’re crazy.”
“I wonder about that myself, at the moment.”
They arrived at her house. The tent was visible in back, looking makeshift, as if children had assembled it. It was a giveaway that something was going on, but maybe the neighbors wouldn’t pry. As long as Seqiro touched their minds and discouraged them.
They walked to the tent. Seqiro’s mind reached out, and immediately understood that Amos was to be accepted. Hello, Amos. I am Seqiro.
“You are a horse?” Amos inquired wryly.
The horse stepped out of the tent. I am.
Darius followed. “I am Darius.”
Amos nodded. “Hello, Seqiro and Darius. I am Amos Forell, Colene’s science teacher. I hope I can help.”
You are in doubt about our validity. I will reassure you.
“I find myself strangely reassured,” Amos admitted.
Colene opened the flap for Amos. “Now, remember—”
But Nona had seen something. “Colene! A vehicle is stopping by the house!”
Colene looked. “Damn! That’s Dad’s car! He’s home. I can’t tend to him right now while—”
The girl was beginning to panic; the turmoil of her mind was coming through. “Yes you can,” Nona said quickly. “Darius and Seqiro can introduce Amos to Burgess, while you and I go to see your father.” She took Colene by the elbow and drew her away.
“Amos, let me explain about Burgess,” Darius said behind them. “He derives from a Mode Colene calls the Cambrian, but I think that was a long time ago. He does not speak or think in the same manner we do.”
Their voices faded out as the two women walked toward the vehicle. But Seqiro’s ambience remained; he was merely letting Nona and Colene have a separate dialogue with Colene’s father. Nona knew she would have no trouble understanding what the man said.
The man had climbed out of his vehicle, which was now beside Amos’ vehicle. He was staring at them.
“Oh, God, I can’t do it,” Colene muttered. “This is going to totally freak him out, and I don’t want that.”
“I will try,” Nona said. “If you introduce me.”
They came to stand before the man. “Hi, Dad,” Colene said tightly. She spoke in her own language, and Nona did understand, as she had expected to.
“Hi, Colene,” he said, just as tightly. Nona realized that Seqiro was reaching to the man’s mind, helping him to accept the situation.
“This is my friend Nona.”
“What happened to your friend Provos?”
Colene turned away. “I just can’t make small talk,” she said, her mind clouding up with mixed emotions. There was love there, and fear, and anger, and hope. This man had always treated her well, but he had betrayed her by trying to trap her here.
“Hello,” Nona said. “I will try to explain.”
The man nodded. Seqiro was providing him greater understanding, now, or at least a willingness to listen to what Nona would say. “Let’s go inside.”
They trekked into the house and took seats in the living room. “I do not know how much you know,” Nona said. “I think you would find the whole truth to be too strange to believe. Perhaps it is enough to say that Colene has had a most strange adventure, and now requires your help.”
“We just want her back,” he said. “She can have anything she wants.”
“First she needs your belief and trust. She is your daughter, and she loves you, but has become estranged. Did you know she is suicidal?”
He stared at her. “No. But I suppose I can’t blame her. Her mother and I—we had concerns of our own, and it wasn’t until Colene left us that we realized how badly we had let her down. We—we thought she had retreated into some kind of fantasy world, insanity, and we were horrified.”
“It was not fantasy,” Nona assured him. “She found a way to travel to places almost unbelievably strange.” She did not want to mention magic, fearing that he would never accept the notion. She had seen how difficult it had been for Amos to accept it, and indeed Amos still thought it was some kind of clever act or ruse. But the concept of travel into other realities was necessary, if he were ever to accept Colene’s relation with Darius.
“We saw her vanish into the air,” he agreed. “Then we knew that she wasn’t just imagining what we had taken to be nonsense about some kind of Virtual Mode and strange places beyond it. We realized that she was into something strange beyond our belief. But it was too late. We had betrayed her, and we feared she would never return. We could only hope she would. We thought we were doing what was right, but then we knew we weren’t. We swore to God that if she ever did return after that, it would be different, and we would never betray her again. Now—”
“Now she has returned, but only for a visit,” Nona said. “As she did before. She—she feels that you did not treat her fairly, before, but if you are willing to help her this time, there will be no further problem between you.”
He nodded. “I know I speak for her mother as well as myself. We would do anything to make it right with Colene. We’ve never been much of a family, but she’s the most important thing in it, and we—” He stalled out, and tried again. “We—we love her, and—” He mopped his face. “Oh, damn it, Colene, we’re so ashamed and sorry!”