Page 46 of Absolution
“The government has. They’ve even contacted me to see if any of us are willing to do it in private. Only my warnings about what it might do to Seiran, and the rest of the world, has kept them at bay,” Jamie said.
“Well isn’t that just the good old American way? If it can’t control it, kill it? Fuckers.” I didn’t think Gabe was the root of the problem. He hadn’t been this bad when I’d gone to ground, though he had been floundering for a while. “Gabe needs to go to ground. Not in the permanent sort of way. More in a very necessary nap sort of way.”
“I’ve suggested it to him. He snaps at me.”
“Because his head is off.” I recalled my own being terrified of the very thing. “He’s not rational because he’s fighting to keep awake when he’s so far beyond exhausted, he’s barely on his feet.” Because that’s how I had felt. Now I felt tired, sure, but more like that normal, hey I had a long day tired, than the dragging agony of exhaustion with life.
“It’s not like we can just kidnap him and shove him into a plot of dirt.”
I wasn’t sure that was impossible. The earth had grabbed me, pulled me back like a living thing. Had that been Seiran’s influence? Somehow I didn’t think so. Perhaps that death magic I’d been suspecting was a whole other thing, rather than anything scientific, and had been the key. Could we get Gabe to the tomb and shove him in? That was a hard no. We’d have to trick him somehow, and Gabe always saw through that shit.
“Maybe we’re overthinking this. We just have to do something to make him want to go to ground,” I pointed out.
“Like what?”
“Everyone’s been telling me that before he met Seiran, Gabe was just looking for a way to die.”
“Okay?”
“So if we separate them, and give him an ultimatum, go to ground or you can’t have him back?”
Jamie thought about that for a minute. “But Seiran is Father Earth, which means he’d have to be on board.”
“Yeah, there would be no way to remove the witch without his consent, but that’s okay because he has other priorities right now.” I pointed toward my room where the twins slept.
“Fuck,” Jamie swore, like he rarely did.
The solution was simple enough, while being complicated at the same time. “We need to get Seiran out of this situation until we can fix Gabe. You and Kelly can go do your tropical honeymoon, and Seiran can catch a break.”
“Where will he be safe? He and the twins?”
“Again, Father Earth. You all worry like some old woman. He’ll be fine.”
“With a bunch of crazies always out to kill him or control him?” Jamie pointed out.
That was true, though I didn’t think any of them could really hurt him at this point. His kids on the other hand… “He owns a giant magic house in California.”
Jamie blinked at me as though the cogs were working in his head. “But who will help him with the babies?”
That was an easy enough solution too. “Tanaka.”
Jamie jolted back. “No. Fuck no! Do you know what she did to Seiran?”
“Sure. Mothers fail spectacularly all the time. She’s a tiger mom, which I guess you wouldn’t understand since it’s a cultural thing. I think she’s also learned a few things. She’s the one changing laws in the Dominion to make them more accessible for men. Sure, it’s probably because Seiran is her son, and she should have done something sooner. But she’s also sort of protected by the mob. You know, the mob of witches called the Dominion?” Tanaka had spent a lot of time visiting Seiran, bringing him gifts, both for him and the babies, and providing him with books on Dominion governance to help with his job. Was she fucked up? Sure, but weren’t we all. “It’s not like he’s a pushover anymore. He’s Father fucking Earth. You all treat him with kid gloves and I think sometimes he forgets that he could blow up this rock we are on without breaking a sweat.”
“What if she treats Mizuki like she treated Seiran?” Jamie said.
“He’d kill her. Hell, I would kill her.” I grinned at the muscle man who shouldn’t have been so afraid of a tiny Asian woman. “I’d enjoy that. I’m not a fan of bullies. I really love to teach them their place.”
Jamie deflated. “I’ll think about it. If I could go with them I’d feel better about it, but the house is nowhere near the coast and Kelly needs the water. Fuck,” he swore again.
I shrugged. “Anyway you have about half an hour before someone else has to be on baby duty. Seiran needs the rest.”
“I’ll stay until he’s up. I can sleep on the couch.”
“And what about Kelly?”
“He’s going to be up and off to school in another hour. We’ve been on opposite shifts for a couple of weeks. But his classes are almost done for the semester. He was going to take the summer off for the trip…”