Free The Hero of Varay by Rick Shelley Page B

townspeople brought him straight up here. I’ve never heard of anything like this happening before.”
    “You heard about the Coral Lady , I take it,” I said, very softly, turning away from Aaron.
    Parthet nodded. “We heard. That’s why we all came back here so fast. Your mother wanted to wait until we could make sure that you had made it through, but I, uh, overruled her.”
    I couldn’t hold back a smile. That was a scene I would have liked to see. Even Dad had trouble overruling Mother on anything, and Parthet wasn’t a particularly assertive sort.
    “I made a quick jump to Louisville to check on you after I found the swords on my bed,” I said.
    “You wear them well.”
    “Yeah, well, I’d better not come up with any more of these things. I feel like a complete jackass wearing two of them.”
    “Just think of the legends you’re spawning,” Parthet said, chuckling broadly. “It’s something rare for a mortal to be able to claim even one elf sword. You’ve got two of them.”
    “Until Xayber sends another hotshot after me, maybe two or three of them together next time.”
    All this time, Aaron Carpenter sat at the table crying silently. He wasn’t paying any visible attention to us, but I tried to keep an eye on him. When he started wiping at his eyes with his sleeves, I turned back to face him head on.
    “Your parents were on vacation?” I asked.
    He shook his head. “They’re doctors.”
    That stopped me flat for a minute. “They had a meeting on the boat?” I asked finally. It was the only thing I could think of. Aaron nodded.
    “You were staying at your grandmother’s house when you went poof?” I asked, and Aaron nodded again. I asked him for the address and he rattled it right off without any hesitation or doubt.
    “You gonna take me home?” Aaron asked.
    My automatic affirmative was stopped when Parthet jabbed me in the shoulder. I turned to look at him and he shook his head vigorously.
    “Hang on a minute, Aaron,” I said. “I’ll be right back.” I got up and went off with Parthet, pulling him along by the sleeve of his Louisville Cardinals sweatshirt. Joy slid along the bench to where I had been sitting and started talking to Aaron.
    “What the hell’s got into you?” I asked Parthet when we were far enough away that Aaron wouldn’t hear us.
    “You can’t take him home,” Parthet said.
    “Why not? His grandmother is probably going crazy if she saw him disappear like that. Even if she didn’t actually see it.”
    “His parents are dead. They were on the Coral Lady.”
    “I figured that out. What difference does it make? He’s still got family.”
    “You’re going to find a way to convince his grandmother that she isn’t crazy?”
    “It can be done,” I said. “Just what’s got into you?”
    Parthet hesitated a beat before he answered. “You remember that I told you that I would know when it was time for me to start training an apprentice? Well, it’s time. Nothing like this has ever happened. It’s the clearest message I could have. Aaron is here to be my apprentice.”
    “He’s just a kid!”
    “That’s the best time to start training him. The only time, as a matter of fact.”
    “Isn’t eight years old a bit young to ask somebody to give up any hope of ever having children of his own?” I asked. I hadn’t forgotten about that consequence of becoming a wizard.
    “That comes with initiation, not with apprenticeship,” Parthet said.
    “It’s beside the point anyway,” I said.
    “You still don’t realize how singular an event this is, do you?” Parthet asked.
    “I guess not. And it doesn’t really matter.”
    Parthet shuffled from one foot to the other while he stared at me. “It has never happened before, anywhere, anytime. People don’t blink in and out like that, not even in the buffer zone. That lad has a stronger touch for the craft than I’ve ever seen, even in someone out of Fairy. He must be a natural.”
    “I’m going to see