to grow up.
She slipped out of the pickup and immediately heard her name ring out.
“Katy! Hey, my friend Katy!” Shiloh rushed her way, his body moving not unlike those of his chickens.
“Hey there,” she said and held out her arms for a big hug. “How are you doing?”
“I’m very good. Excellent.” He stepped back and beamed up at her. “My chickens are laying all kinds of eggs, and Mrs. Oceanus is very happy about our business deal.”
“I knew you could do it,” Katy told him. “You’re an amazing kid.”
Shiloh’s face tightened a little, wavering between nervous and perturbed. “I’m not really doing a lot of kid stuff anymore. I have a lot of jobs around here now.”
“Oh, do you now? What kind of jobs?”
His small chest seemed to puff up two sizes. “I take care of the chickens all by myself, and I help out in the stables, and I keep track of how many eggs each chicken lays for Mrs. Oceanus. I even help Mom with the kid activities sometimes.”
A worried twinge poked Katy in the ribs. He’d settled in just fine, made a real place for himself, but she felt suddenly concerned about him growing up too fast. Though he sounded a lot like the kid she’d met on the plane, there was a disconnected air about him, as if facts and figures had taken the place of laughter and whimsy in his life. Thinking back to that conversation on the plane, she wondered if he’d simply found a new way to avoid facing his fears.
Spotting a log bench near the stables, Katy flashed him a smile and tipped her head in the bench’s direction. “Let’s go sit for a minute.”
“Okay, but just for a minute. I have a bunch of things to do this morning.”
“So, what do you do in your free time?” she asked when they’d planted themselves side by side on the cool, planed wood.
He peered up at her. “I don’t really like free time.”
“What? All kids like free time. When do you play games and run and swim? And Inglenook has to be a great place for bike riding.”
Shiloh shook his head. “I don’t have a bike.”
Katy grinned. Finally, something she could take care of. “Oh, that’s an easy fix. I’m sure my cousins have extras. I can bring you one.”
His head shook harder. “I don’t know how to ride,” he said quietly.
“Oh. Well, that’s an easy fix, too. I can teach you.”
Eyes narrow, Shiloh peered up at her. “I thought you were my friend.”
Katy’s pulse did a double-take. What a strange reaction. “I am your friend, Shiloh. Friends have fun together and teach each other things.”
“What if I don’t want to learn them?”
“Is that because you’re scared?”
He looked away, stared out into the trees. “Why does everyone always ask that? Can’t I just not like things sometimes?”
The quiver in his voice stabbed Katy in the heart. Time to back off. “Sure, buddy,” she said. “You get to decide what makes you happy. Friends also care about that.” She smiled down at him and waited.
After a few long moments, he nodded up at her. One side of his mouth allowed a half-smile. “Thanks, Katy,” he whispered.
“Of course.” She glanced at her watch. “Hey, I’ve still got some time. Want to go for a trail ride?”
Shiloh shook his head yet again. “That didn’t go so well last time.”
Katy chuckled. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. But we survived, huh? Even had ourselves an adventure.”
“I don’t think I like adventure.”
She took a deep breath. The kid meant to put her through her paces today. A memory flashed through her mind, and her spirits lifted. “We had some fun that day, didn’t we? Remember we even saw that bald eagle?”
Shiloh’s eyes widened. “Oh, yeah! That was really cool. I wish we could have spent more time with him. His name is Telos, right?”
“That’s right. He’s a very special eagle.”
He scooted a little closer on the bench. “Special how?”
Wow, the kid was a bird lover for sure. She’d have to remember to lead with that in the future. “Well, I think he has powers, and he uses them to protect the forest and the people in it.” She purposely avoided the “god” word, since it might complicate what was basically a simple idea.
“Is he like a superhero?”
Katy shrugged. “Sort of. Except superheroes are fictional, made up by writers and artists. Telos is definitely real.”
Shiloh let out a long, slow sigh. “I wish I knew where to find him,” he