Luca stared at Eli’s stony expression. Then he looked at his father’s slack, pale face matted with sweat. Then he turned to the funny duke. He didn’t look funny right then. He looked frightened.

  His stomach turned nauseous and tingly. It felt like something really, really bad was happening. Kind of like when he had been sick.

  But Eli kept saying that his dad wasn’t sick.

  Maybe she was lying?

  Luca balled his hands up into fists before he started fidgeting with his pant leg.

  “I don’t think he’ll die,” Penelope announced while attempting to sound casual.

  Luca’s head swung round to stare at her. She always tried to pretend she didn’t care and was confident, but Luca knew that she wasn’t exactly sure of her own words just then either.

  “You said you see things before they happen. Did you see my dad alive later on?” he asked quietly.

  Penelope shuffled her feet in the dirt and twisted her mouth.

  “I saw… I saw me calling Eli mom. And I… I saw her smiling at someone. I thought it was Tam.”

  “But you don’t know for sure?” Luca’s voice turned desperate and panicky.

  Penelope grabbed his shoulders, forcing his wild eyes to meet with hers.

  “People die, Luca. My father died. My mother was sick and is probably dead. I couldn’t see her future the last time I saw her. It just… Happens.”

  Tears welled up in Luca’s eyes and his throat ached. “But I just found him. I don’t want…” he trailed off, emotion choking him as tears spilled over. “I don’t want to go back to my mother in Daxaria. She didn’t like me. No one liked me. She said I wasn’t normal. Said she never wanted me, and I just had to be understanding that she wasn’t–”

  Penelope pulled him into an unexpected hug, and began to gently stroke the back of his head. It felt like something she’d seen others do, but she herself had never done. Awkward; but not the worst feeling.

  “What if this is happening because of me?” Luca croaked into her shoulder. “My uncle used to say I had devil eyes and I’d make bad things happen.”

  Penelope snorted, Luca pulled back, instantly angry by her reaction; his tears still running down his face. Before he could shout at her for laughing however, she spoke.

  “You have your dad’s eyes, and he’s nice. Why would your eyes be the devil’s?”

  Luca stilled, a peculiar warm tingling filling him in the wake of surprise.

  He fidgeted some more, but not because of bad feelings. “You don’t think I’m scary or creepy?”

  “Weren’t your mother and uncle the ones who also said you’re smart enough and don’t need school? I wouldn’t trust them,” Penelope scoffed.

  Luca’s cheeks reddened. “I am smart!”

  “Why do you think you’re smart?” Penelope probed snidely.

  “My uncle says I’m people smart. He used to make me watch customers to see who would be bad, or if they are rich, or-”

  “You can’t tell if someone is bad just by looking at them,” Penelope interrupted confidently.

  “Maybe you can’t, but I can. I know my dad’s a good person. I know Eli is good. I know Harris is good. So are Bong, and Jeong, and—”

  “Am I good?” Penelope thrust her chin up with a superior air.

  Luca let out a short breath. “I know that you’re scared I’m going to say you aren’t so you’re acting like you’re better than me.”

  Penelope flushed, and her composure wavered.

  “You are good, though. You care, you’re just mad and scared a lot of the time. That’s why even when you’re mean I’m nice to you. Because I know you like all of us, but you kind of don’t like that.”

  Penelope blinked rapidly. “That’s stupid. You’re stupid!” she shouted.

  Luca didn’t react to her insult, and instead leaned a bit closer. “Everyone is a bit stupid, I think. My mother didn’t know how to be a good mom like Eli. And my uncle didn’t know how to be nice. And Harris… He’s pretty smart actually.”

  At that Penelope shot Luca a look of utter disbelief. “What about the whole thing with the beets?”

  “He’s dumb about beets. But not much else.” Luca shrugged.

  Silence rested between the two children.

  “So…” Penelope started slowly. “You can tell people’s emotions. Like I can see bits of their past, present, and future?”

  “I guess.”

  Penelope nodded in understanding.

  A loud grunt followed by gasping echoed from Tam within one of the tents, snapping both Luca and Penelope’s attention over to him to see him straining against some unknown pain. Dark shadows wavered from his skin, and the trees, tents, and even rocks around them all trembled as though an earthquake was setting in.

  However, it seemed to only be in a circle around their campsite.

  It wasn’t the first time this had happened, though each time it did the area that was affected widened.

  Luca watched as Eli gently laid her hand on his father’s forehead and held his hand.

  It didn’t make Tam’s straining better, but it didn’t make things worse, and eventually, as was the norm, he did settle back down to a dead sleep.

  Swallowing with difficulty, Luca held out his hand.

  “Do it.”

  Penelope looked at his offered palm, then back up at him, stunned. “You said you never wanted me to try with you.”

  “Because I… I was scared you’d tell me I was evil. Now I… I really need to know if my dad is… If he is…” Luca couldn’t finish his sentence. Every inch of him longed to crumble into a sob.

  Penelope grabbed his hand, her face scrunched up, and her eyes closed.

  Luca waited.

  At first he didn’t feel anything. Just Penelope holding his hand in a vice grip.

  Then a tickle started in his chest, and a buzzing in his skull.

  Luca gave his head a quick shake.

  Something strange was happening, and whatever it was, it was oddly familiar.

  He cleared his throat to stop himself from making a sound of discomfort. He didn’t want Penelope to stop. Though the buzzing increased until his brain started to ache and colored dots crept into his vision.

  Please see something… Please don’t tell me my dad dies…

  As the buzzing started to overflow into a numbing drone, Luca didn’t let go of Penelope’s hands, though he did wonder if he might faint.

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  At last Penelope released him.

  Luca swayed on the spot, until Penelope grasped his face between her two palms.

  “You’ll have a headache. You’re probably a witch or something like that because they usually feel it worse, and you don’t look good right now.”

  Luca swallowed, wanting the next words out of his mouth to sound in control. “What’d you,” he broke off in a cough. “What’d you see?”

  His vision had mostly returned to normal, but there were some patches of his vision that were still bright spots.

  “Well, you’re weird. I only saw blackness at first. It wasn’t easy, and it was almost like I had to force it, until it just popped up.”

  “What’d you see?” Luca repeated more irritably as his impatience and desperation got the best of him.

  “I saw your uncle. He was… Uh. He threw things at you. Your mother told him to be quiet, and you went out to help with customers, but-”

  “What about my dad?” Luca cut Penelope off from reminding him of such an awful memory.

  “I saw that last night he said your name in his sleep.”

  Luca swallowed. That was also true. He’d woken up hearing it, and had been filled with hope until he realized his father was neither better, nor awake. “And the future?”

  “I saw Tam, and Eli,” Penelope relayed carefully.

  “What? What is it?” Luca could hear the hesitancy in her words, and he could feel her uneasiness.

  “Someone is trying to hurt us. Someone strong wants us, and Tam and Eli are going to try and protect us.”

  “Does something happen to them?” Luca implored frantically.

  Penelope shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know. I couldn’t see that far. I can’t make myself see what I want or you want. I just get glimpses here and there.”

  Luca sat down on the ground, and rubbed his eyes using the heels of his palms.

  “Don’t cry, you baby.” Penelope attempted to scold Luca, though she sounded more caring than insulting as she said it.

  “I’m not. My head just hurts. At least my dad’s going to be alive later so he’s not dying,” Luca affirmed seriously while dropping his hands away.

  Penelope crouched to be eye level with Luca before seating herself down. “That’s true.” The little girl paused, a foreign look of hesitancy and discomfort tightening the skin around her eyes. “Are you going to be okay when they adopt me?”

  Luca lifted his head and the right corner of his mouth and cheek hoisted up with a mixed grimace and smile. “Eh. I guess. I’d wanted a baby sister. Not a big sister.”

  “Why don’t you want a brother? My Uncle Thomas says boys usually want brothers.”

  “You have an uncle, too?” Luca asked interestedly.

  Penelope didn’t usually like to talk about her family, and so Luca couldn’t help but be curious.

  “Kind of. He’s not really my uncle. We all lived and traveled together since I was a baby, so I just call him Uncle Thomas.”

  “Oh. You traveled together? Like as bards? Or performers?”

  Penelope avoided his eyes. “No. We just… Had to hide. My mother, father, Uncle Tomas, Mr. Ansar, and I.”

  “Like my dad, Eli, Harris, and I are hiding and traveling?”

  At the comparison, Penelope perked up. “Yeah! Exactly!”

  Luca nodded reasonably. “Is your uncle or Mr. Ansar alive?”

  Penelope’s enlightened mood was short lived as the question brought her shoulders and face back down. “Yeah, but they needed to leave for a job, and then Captain Woo found my mother when she was trying to take me to find my grandmother. She was too sick to take care of me by herself.”

  Luca leaned forward and put his hand on her head. “I’m sorry.”

  “What’re you doing?” Penelope asked flatly.

  “My dad does this to me and I feel better.”

  “Your hand is probably dirty, take it off my head.”

  “It’s not dirty! I just washed it!”

  Penelope batted his hand away. “Shouldn’t you go tell Eli that you know Tam’s going to be fine?”

  Luca looked over Penelope’s shoulder at Eli’s back. “Am I allowed to tell her? I thought you told me to keep it a secret.”

  “I already told her a little bit about what I can do. So it’s fine,” Penelope declared with her usual attitude paired with an impressive eye roll.

  Luca leapt to his feet, staggered to catch his balance, then darted off toward Eli without needing to ask for any more assurances.

  He couldn’t wait to make her feel better. He could feel how terrified she was.

  So he did just that, and while at first when she heard the news she seemed unmoved, as the the moments drifted on, Luca watched her face soften, and he could feel the tiniest bit of relief.

  Luca watched Eli glance over at Penelope, and give a nod of thanks.

  Penelope nodded back.

  Luca grinned.

  Harris was off in the distance out of earshot, but he must have noticed the change in Eli’s demeanor, as he straightened from his leaning position against a tree to look hopefully at Tam.

  Yes…

  Everything would be fine.

  Tam would wake up, and then they could all start traveling again.

  Maybe one day, when Penelope was adopted, they could live together like a real family.

  Jeong and Bong could visit, and maybe Luca could meet Harris’s kids, though they sounded a bit scary.

  Who knew? Maybe he’d even like meeting the queen and his cousins, though he was a little worried they’d hate him for being a bastard. That had been something his Uncle Liam had said over and over. How nobles hated bastards.

  Luca looked at his father’s face, once again still, and his complexion still sickly.

  Despite having Penelope’s reassurance that everything would be alright, he couldn’t help but do something he had only ever tried once before in his entire life.

  He tried praying to the Goddess.

  Please Goddess. Can we all be a normal happy family together? Can I have that…?

  I’m sorry I was born without your blessing, but… I promise I’ll be good. I’ll take really good care of my dad and Eli—I’ll even be nice to Penelope as my older sister! Even though she can be kind of a jerk. So even if it takes a little while, I hope we all can have a nice life. I’ll work hard to make sure I earn it, so please, please, please, don’t take them away from me.

  Please. I need them. I love them. They don't have to love me back, but... that’s okay, as long as we’re together. And happy.

  Please?

  My Patreonnies, thank you, thank you, thank you, for all of your support, geneorsity, and kindness. It means the world, and I promise I will resume posting the next book of The Delicacy of Magic Debt in the near future! I am super excited about all the story mapping that has been happening---and yes, another instalment of Rising of the Reyes will be coming, too!

  Alright everyone, I hope you had a restful weekend and are prepared to take this new week by storm. Even if that storm is maybe just you an inch away from curling up into a fetal position ball with not enough sleep. That's it's own kind of storm. Because you're still hanging on, still kicking by the simple fact that you are there. And so what if the precipitation is from your tears? There is no shame in drowning your troubles until you can see the sunshine.

  5% effort is better than 0%, and showing up is, at times, more than half the battle. So, you got this.

  Alright friends, take care of yourselves, and let's do our absolute best, whatever that may be, and remember to think about all the good and beautiful things you've seen and done, be it a great sunset, an adorable dog, the smell of warm laundry, that first sip of delicious tea/coffee, that gulp of cool water, that moment where you can sit and take a breath, that cool bird... There's a lot in life to admire. To miss it would be a small tragedy---which is why I make sure you know how much I admire all of you. So the least we can do is take those precious seconds of our day to enjoy or appreciate these things. Even when maybe the bigger picture doesn't look particularly bright. Like the night sky, there are stars somewhere out there.

  Alright. Enough of my cheesiness (flavor of cheesy... I'd say a nice havarti), go and take down today.

  Cheers, friends!

  Delemhach

  *Edit: Apologies for the mis-post of the chapter! Here is the correct one, and thank you for bringing it to my attention!