Page 94 of Dreams Do Come True

“Your brother as well,” I remind him.

“You saw Septamus?” Cassie asks, walking into the kitchen with Sion.

“Yeah, he turned up at the church and jumped out at us from behind a parked car when everyone had left,” I tell him as they sit down.

“What happened to him?” Sion asked.

“He pulled out a vial of something to throw at Tie, but before he could, Sly called the vial to him and then threw it at the nutty brother,” Temp said.

“What did it do?” Cassie asks.

“Covered him in large exploding boils, from which he will never recover,” I reply.

“Gross,” Cassie says, shivering obviously at the thought.

“Very,” Temp and I say at the same time.

“What about the boys?” Sion asked.

“Ben and I took them back to the church yard, well out of harm's way,” Kean replies.

“So, it really is over with Septamus then?” Cassie asks, with a hopeful smile.

“Seeing him, very probably, but I still expect him to blow up my phone, but I can just keep blocking whatever number he uses. You do the same, Cass.”

My brother nods. “I can do that. I’ll delete all those pictures as well.”

“Good,” I reply.

Just then, I heard the patter of tiny feet and Lyric comes toddling in.

Kean is up before I can move and picks him up. “Hey, little man. You climbing again?”

Lyric nods and snuggles into Kean’s chest and sighs, popping his thumb in his mouth.

“Do you want a drink, little man?” I ask him.

He nods. “Duce pees,”

I get up and get him some watered-down orange, and bring the tub of biscuits over, putting it in the middle of the table. As I do, I’m wondering if we should change his day cot into a bed, I mean, it’s not as if the crib is keeping him safe. I’ll chat to Kean about it and see what he thinks.

Lyric is sat on Kean’s lap, and I pass him his sippy cup, when I hear crying.

“River’s awake,” I say, walking into the children’s lounge. I pick River up and rub his back. “Hey, Baba, shall we change your nappy?” As I talk, I walk over to the changing table and make quick work of cleaning him up and redressing him.

I cheat and wave my hand to tidy up and pick River back up. He’s still crying.

“What’s wrong, Baba?” I ask, swaying backwards and forwards. “It’s too early for food, and you have a clean nappy. Sometimes you just need a good cry, don’t you, Baba?” I rub my hand up and down his back, making a gentle shushing sound.

He’s been crying for ages. I try to give him his dummy, but that doesn’t help; he just keeps crying and crying and crying. I know I said about having a good cry, but I didn’t mean for this long. What if he’s crying from a delayed injury? Maybe I should take him to see Justice. I look at the time and realise Justice should be home soon, so I can have him check River out then.

“Come on, Baba, you’re too young to be this upset,” I say, but he doesn’t stop crying, and it’s breaking my heart. I don’t want to use magic to try and make him stop crying because if something is wrong, it could cause more harm.

“Look at this, Baba,” I say and using magic, I make bubbles appear, but he ignores them and keeps crying. Then I remember his eyesight isn’t that great at the moment, so that was a silly thing to do.

I press my cheek to his little head. Maybe it’s me, and I’m doing something wrong and making him cry. That must be it, I mean, I don’t really have much experience with babies, only Connie and she hardly ever cries.

I hurry into the kitchen and look at Kean. “I think I’ve broken River. I can’t get him to stop crying. What have I done wrong?”