"How unusual. But it's nice, so modern."
"It's my last name, but that's what everybody calls me."
"Oh, really? What's your first name?"
Keller broke off a piece of toast, feeling uncomfortable. "Raksha."
"But that's beautiful! Why don't you use it?"
Keller shrugged. "I just don't." She could see Galen looking at her. Shapeshifters usually were named for their animal forms, but neither Keller nor Raksha fit the pattern. "I was abandoned as a kid," she said in a clipped voice, looking back at Galen. Diana's mother wouldn't be able to make anything of this, but she might as well satisfy the princeling's curiosity. "So I don't know my real last name. But my first name means 'demon.'"
Diana's mother paused with the juice carton over Nissa's glass. "Oh. How... nice. Well, then, I see."
She blinked a couple of times and walked off without pouring Nissa any juice.
"So what does Galen mean?" Keller said, holding his gaze challengingly and handing her full glass to Nissa.
He smiled-a little wryly-for the first time since sitting down. " 'Calm.'"
Keller snorted. "It figures."
"I like Raksha better."
Keller didn't answer. With "Aunt Anna" safely in the kitchen, she could speak again to Diana. "You understood before, right? That you can't go to school."
"I have to go to school." For somebody who looked as if she were made of spun glass, Diana ate a lot. She spoke around a mouthful of microwave pancake.
"It's out of the question. How can we go with you? What are we supposed to be, for Goddess's sake?"
"My long-lost cousin from Canada and her friends," Diana said indistinctly. "Or you can all be exchange students who're here to study our American educational system." Before Keller could say anything, she added, "Hey, how come you guys aren't at school? Don't you have schools?"
"We've got the same ones you do," Winnie said. "Except Nissa-she graduated last year. But Keller and I are seniors like you. We just take time off for this stuff."
"I bet your grades are as bad as mine," Diana said unemotionally. "Anyway, I have to go to school this week. There are all sorts of class parties and things. You can come. It'll be fun."
Keller wanted to hit her with the pot of grits.
She had a problem, though. Iliana's little brother Alex had escaped from his high chair and was climbing up her leg. She looked down at him uneasily. She wasn't good with family-type things, and she especially wasn't good with children.
"Okay," she said. "Go on back and sit down." She peeled him off and tried to start him in the right direction.
He turned around and put his arms up. "Kee-kee. Kee-kee."
"That's his word for 'kitty,'" Iliana's mother said, coming in with a plate of sausages. She ruffled his white-blond hair. "You mean Kelly, Kelly," she told him.
" 'Keller, Keller!" Winnie corrected helpfully.
Alex climbed into Keller's lap, grabbed her hair, and hoisted himself into a standing position. She found herself looking into huge violet baby eyes. Witch eyes.
"Kee-kee," he said flatly, and gave her a sloppy kiss on the cheek.
Winnie grinned. "Having trouble?"
The kid had two chubby arms around Keller's neck now and was nudging her chin with his head like a kitten looking for pets. He had a good grip, too. This time, she couldn't peel him off.
"It's just-distracting," she said, giving up and petting him awkwardly. It was ridiculous. How could she argue with baby giggles in her ears?
"You look kind of sweet together," Iliana observed. Tm getting dressed for school now. You guys can do whatever you want."
She floated off while Keller was trying to think of a reply.
Nissa and Winnie hastily followed her. Galen got up to help Iliana's mother with the dishes. Keller tugged at the baby, who clung like a sloth. Maybe there was shapeshifter blood in this family. "Kee-kee... pui!" That was what it sounded like.
"Pwee?" Keller glanced nervously at his diaper.
"He means 'pretty" Iliana's mother said, coming back in. "It's funny. He doesn't usually take to people like that. He likes animals better."
"Oh. Well, he has good taste," Keller said. She finally succeeded in detaching him and gave him back to his mother. Then she started down the hallway after Iliana, muttering, "Too bad about his eyesight."
"I think his eyesight's just fine," Galen said, right behind her.
Keller turned, realizing they were alone in the hall.
His faint smile faded. "I really wanted to talk to you," he said.
Chapter 7
Keller faced him squarely.
"Yes, sir? Or should I say 'my lord?"
He flinched but tried to hide it. "I should have told you in the beginning."
Keller wasn't about to get into a discussion of it. "What do you want?"
"Can we go in there?" He nodded toward what looked like a small library-office combination.
Keller didn't want to, but she couldn't think of any acceptable reason to refuse. She followed him and crossed her arms when he closed the door.
"You saved my life." He wasn't quite facing her; he was looking out the window at a cold silver sky. Against it, he had a profile like a young prince on an ancient coin.
Keller shrugged. "Maybe. Maybe not. The bricks didn't kill me; maybe they wouldn't have killed you."
"But you were trying to save my life. I did something that was probably stupid-again-and you had to cover for me."
"I did it because it's my job, Galen. That's what I do."