I saw Thais in my mind. As he was when he was born, then later when I finally met him again. Grown up and changed into something so like me, and so like his father, that I wept until he made me stop with his voice and eyes.

That was Thais's gift, after all.

As I pictured him in my mind, I let myself slip into astral space. There was the usual nauseating tug as 1 slipped between the veils. The ribbons flowed around me and into me until I couldn't tell the dif- ference between them and myself. I was filled with the power. Exhilarating and fierce. This was what I was bom to. I never doubted myself here. Here I knew who and what I was.

The veils parted as I remembered my task. I reached out my will, calling Thais to me. Command- ing him to come to my summons.

Time passed interminably slow. Then sped to light.

I float then fall.

The universe is around me. Inside me. I am the universe: waiting and watching.

Across worlds I come. Through the blazing heat of a thousand suns. From the Void. Into the dark- ness.

From the darkness, I pull light.

My child.

Some things you cannot resist. The bond between a mother and child.

The brilliance of Thais blinds me as I pull him closer and closer.

Come to me, child.

And he cannot refuse.

Then we are falling. Falling through space and time. Back to earth.

"What do you want?"

Thais was standing in the center of the room. A circle of blue energy surrounded him. I waved it away and he relaxed visibly.

"Was that really necessary?" he asked.

"Would you have come if I asked?"

He shook his head. "You abandoned me long ago. Why should I do you any favors now?"

I had hoped that old hurt had passed. But no, I was not to be forgiven any of my sins. Thais was still a child in so many ways. I had protected him too well.

"Very well, Thais, consider it a demand then," I said wearily. "I haven't the energy to fight with you about this now. There are other, more important, matters at hand."

Thais slid along the floor and pulled himself up onto the couch with his powerful arms. His thick, snake-like tail wrapped around his torso once, then hung down off the edge of his seat onto the floor.

"What does the Great and Powerful Aina want of me today? Perhaps I should go to the Wicked Witch of the West and retrieve her broom. Maybe I'll throw water on her and watch as she melts into brown sugar. Or there is always popping down a rab- bit hole… Which will it be?"

"Mind your manners, junior," said Caimbeul. "That's your mother you're addressing."

Both Thais and I turned toward him, open- mouthed. He shrugged.

"I think you've coddled him, Aina," said Caimbeul. "You've always protected him from… the world."

"Coddled?" Thais said. "You call being bom a monster coddled? Look at me. Why did she make me? It was her selfishness…"

"Oh, grow up," snapped Caimbeul. "This isn't about you…"

"Thank you," I interjected. "But why don't you let me get on with it?"

"Very well, but-"

I held my hand up and Caimbeul fell silent. A tight expression set on his face and I knew he was angry. It made me feel very warm inside.

I turned to Thais.

"Ysrthgrathe is back," I said.

Thais didn't say anything.

"Has he contacted you?" I asked.

"Why would I tell you if he had?" he asked.

"Thais, he's a liar. He spreads his misery that way. I know you want to believe… only the best."

"You don't know what I want," Thais said. "Why should I trust you more than him?"

"You know what he is," I said. "I've never kept that from you. There is more at stake here than your grudge against me. If he is back, then the world is at risk."

Thais rolled his eyes.

"It's always so dramatic with you, Mother," he said. His voice was that of a smirky, sarcastic fifteen-year-old. "How is it that you're always on hand to save the country, the planet, the universe? Don't you ever get tired?"

"Yes, Thais, I get very tired. I am intensely weary right now."

His tail twitched and tapped against the floor. The scales that covered his skin were iridescent and gleamed in the low light. I wondered what happened when he had to shed his skin. So many little details about his life I didn't know.

"Very well," Thais said. "I'll tell you. He is here, on this plane. He contacted me a few days ago. But he didn't come to me in person-I had a dream. It was so vivid, unlike any other dream I've ever had.

"He explained… everything. He told me why you hated him. Told me the truth."

Caimbeui made an ugly noise and I looked over at him. A frown pulled at his mouth and he gave me a Why-the-frag-don't-you-just-shut-the-little- wackweed-up? look. I doubted he'd ever had chil- dren. I couldn't expect him to understand.

Thais had uncoiled himself from the couch and was slithering along the floor to the doors leading outside.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"Outside for some fresh air," he replied.

I followed him. The temperature had dropped more than I expected. I rubbed my arms as goose- flesh broke out. We stayed there for a long time, wrapped in night sounds.

"Thais," I said at last. "I know I've been a disap- pointment to you. All those years apart, then later, when things turned bad for all of us. But…"

"Shut up," he said, turning violently toward me. "Just stop talking. How do you think I felt when he came to me? How could I deny him? You've cursed me with him."

He began to weep then. Terrible wracking sobs 136

that shook his frame. I wanted to go and embrace him, but I was afraid to. Afraid that he would reject me again. Oh, what agony it was to hear him in pain. I wondered how Caimbeui could resist the sound of it, for it tore me inside. Like I'd swallowed glass.

I forced myself to wait and watch until his tears began to dry and he seemed more in control of himself.

"Thais," I said. "I am so sorry. I never wanted you to have to face this. I tried to protect you."

"I know," he said. His voice was shaky and rough. "But you haven't been very good at that. Have you?"

And how could I answer that? But I suspect he didn't mean me to.

I don't know how long we stood there in the chill- ing night air. The stars frosted the sky in diamond- hard brightness. Then, later, I noticed that the black sky was turning purple-gray.

"What did he say?" I asked at last. I felt drained and exhausted. So empty that it didn't matter what he told me.

"He said you would come for me. He told me that you would try to stop him and it would do you no good." Thais's voice sounded weary. I wondered how I could help him, but then I realized there was nothing I could do for him now. That there are some things a parent cannot do for her child.

"Did he tell you if there were any other of the Enemy here?" I asked.

"No," Thais said. "But I didn't sense any others. I have always been sensitive to that sort of thing. 137

Your friend," he said, giving a jerk of his head to- ward the house. "He managed to stop something from happening a while ago. But the world has more than one point of entry. They are there waiting. Waiting for the moment when they can return."

"Did he say anything else?" I asked. "Anything at all might be important."

"Only that he's been waiting for you to come to him."

The sky was light now, moon hanging low against the horizon, looking strange and out of place so near the sunrise. We stood there in silence as the night fled from the day.

Aina sits before an old woman who has black witchy-hair and who wears gypsy colors. The air here is thick with incense and patchouli.

"Cut the cards," the woman says. Aina does so, feeling the coolness of the deck beneath her fingers.

The reading begins.

The cards lie face down-hidden and hiding their meanings. The first is turned up. The old woman gasps.