"I want my Pretty Ponies!" Sofia shouted, halfway up the stairs.
"And there's another suitcase in her closet," Shanna said. "She needs more clothes."
"No problem." Darlene started up the stairs. "I'll take care of it."
Shanna handed her son his orange Knicks-decorated suitcase. "Here you go."
Constantine regarded her quietly before responding. "Do we really have to move?"
She nodded. "It's for the best. There are more people at the school who can watch over you during the day."
"I don't need a babysitter."
Shanna sighed. Sofia was delighted with the move, since the school now boasted a stable of horses for equestrian classes. But Tino wasn't so easily swayed. "You'll have other kids there to play with, like Coco and Bethany."
He wrinkled his nose. "They're girls. They just want to do silly stuff."
She tousled the blond curls on his head. "Girls are silly now?"
"Yeah. They just want to dress up and pretend they're movie stars. I want to play basketball or backgammon or Battleship."
"Where did you learn those?" She knew her son played basketball with his dad, but she'd never seen him play board games.
"Howard taught me."
"Oh. That was sweet of him." Howard Barr had been the family's daytime bodyguard for several years now. As a bear shifter, he made a fierce protector, but he had such a gentle nature that Shanna had always considered him more of a honey bear than a grizzly.
"Howard loves games," Tino continued. "People always think he's slow 'cause he's so big and eats so many donuts, but he's really fast."
"I'm sure he is."
"He's smart, too." Tino narrowed his eyes, concentrating. "He says winning is a combination of skill, timing, and . . . stragedy."
"Strategy?"
"Yeah. Howard's real good at stragedy. When is he coming back? He's been gone forever!"
She thought back, recalling that he'd gone to Alaska at the end of May, and it was now the end of June. "It's been about a month."
"Yeah! That's almost forever!"
She supposed it was for a five-year-old. "I'll call your uncle Angus and ask him, but for now, I need you to pack whatever stuff you want to take back to school."
"Okay." Instead of heading for the stairs, he positioned himself underneath the second-floor landing.
"Tino, wait - " She was too late. He'd already experienced lift-off and was quickly levitating beyond her reach. "Be careful."
He peered down at her with the frustrated half smile he always gave her when he thought she was being overly protective. "Come on, Mom. It's not like I can fall." He reached the second-floor balcony and tossed his empty suitcase onto the landing.
She gritted her teeth as he swung a leg over the balustrade and straddled the flimsy railing. He could certainly fall now if he lost his balance or the balustrade collapsed. She tensed, prepared to levitate and catch him, but he landed neatly on his feet on the second floor.
She exhaled the breath she'd been holding. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine. Don't worry so much." He rolled his suitcase toward his bedroom.
Don't worry so much? She was a mom. How could she not worry?
His words echoed in her mind as she wandered into the family room. She was worried. She was afraid he'd try something really dangerous. Like teleport into a moving car. Or levitate to the top of a cell phone tower.