Piper (Queen's Birds of Prey #4) - Kathi S. Barton Page 0,16

for you. But you’re about to have company. The ground is telling me it’s a child because of the light foot. Male too.”

“Oh, I forgot. It’s Abe from the castle. He was coming by for some information on some herbs. I have them ready.” She started for the house and stopped. “Grant, they’re on the table laid out for him. Could you go in and hand them to him? I’m soaked through right now.”

He didn’t mind. Grant had seen the kids around town a few times. He’d also heard that Abe had saved one of the merchants the other day. He wanted to thank him for that, as well as invite him to his classes about surviving in the wild. Grant thought everyone should be able to tell a weed from something they could eat to stay alive.

“You must be Mr. Grant.” He said he was just Grant. “All right, Grant. I’m Abe. Your mom, she said she had some starters she could give me for a project.” He told him to come into the house, and he’d get them. “This is so cool. It’s so big here.”

The house, like a great many of the houses here, was smallish. The difference was, with their home, it only looked like it was small from the outside. The inside of his home was much larger and spacious than the biggest home here because of their magic.

“When I first was moved into this home with my mom, we both knew it was never going to hold us both and all our projects. So we worked out what we wanted and made our own space. Usually, the magic doesn’t show itself to others. You must be very trustworthy.” Abe told him he hoped so. “I was going to ask you if you’d like to come to the survival classes I’m working on. I think your sister and cousin might enjoy them as well. I teach you how to know what you can do if you’re lost.”

“I’d have to ask my mom and dad.” Grant handed him permission slips to give them. “I’ll drop one of them off with Miley when I see her. She’s supposed to come to the house for dinner tonight anyway. You should come too. That way, if they have any questions, you’ll be able to answer. It will be fun to have someone other than all those women around.”

“I don’t know, kid. What if they don’t want strangers around?” Abe said he wasn’t a stranger, that he knew his sister and mom both. “But they still might not like it. You should probably get permission first for me to just show up.”

He nodded then smiled at him. “I asked. Mom said the more, the merrier, and that your mom should come too. Tracy had so much fun at your mom’s shop the other day that she has talked of nothing much else. Please say you’re coming. I will have someone to talk to while the women talk about dresses and stuff.” He made a gagging sound, then looked up at Grant. “It’s not that bad. I promise. I love having all my family around all the time. Especially at meal times. They’re fun.”

“I have to ask my mom too.” Abe told him if she couldn’t make it, he could still come. “You’re an all right kid. I think I might like having you hanging around with me.”

“My Aunt Piper calls me kid too. I don’t think it’s because she doesn’t know my name, but she just thinks of me as a kid. I don’t annoy her, I don’t think. We had dinner together the other night. Just her and me.” The kid had a serious crush on his aunt if Grant didn’t miss his bet. “She’s the phoenix. The scariest of all of them, I think. My mom is an eagle. So is Dad.”

In the end, it was just him that was going to dinner at the castle. His mom wanted to go, he could tell, but she’d already made plans to go over to Ms. Sanders’ home and help her with her legs. Abe told her that if she got done early to come on up. He’d love to have her sitting with them too. The kid was a charmer. He could tell that right away.

When it was time for him to head up to dinner, his mom actually going, after all, he thought about what he should wear. When he came out of his room in a pair