Free Wizard's Holiday, New Millennium Edition by Diane Duane

okay?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Fine. Dress warm,” Kit’s father said, and turned to the comics section.
    Kit and Nita exchanged a bemused glance. Finally, Kit turned toward the kitchen.
    “You’ll want to fill Mama in on the details,” Kit’s father said, in a tone of voice suggesting complete unconcern.
    Kit couldn’t bear it anymore. He looked over his shoulder and saw his father just peering over the top of the newspaper at him, waiting for his reaction. His father bent the paper down just enough to let Kit see his grin, then let the paper pop up again and went on with his reading.
    “I’ve been had,” Kit muttered to Nita as they went back into the kitchen.
    Nita rolled her eyes. “The story of our lives…”
    Kit’s mama was up off the couch now, and looked up as she poured herself some coffee. “In case you were wondering,” she said as they came in, “Tom was on the phone a while ago.”
    “Oh,” Kit said.
    “He gave us the basics,” Kit’s mama said, leaning against the counter. “I gather that this isn’t going to be at all dangerous, and that you’ll be able to come home at night if you want to, or if we want you to.”
    “Uh, yeah,” Kit said.
    “Well, let’s think about this,” his mother said. “Your grades have been okay… ” Kit was already beginning to grin when his mama glanced up at him and said, “I emphasize the ‘okay’. Not brilliant. I’m still not entirely pleased with your midterm grades, especially that history test.”
    “Mama,” Kit said, “my history teacher is a date freak. He doesn’t care if you understand anything about history except when things happened!”
    “Aha, the appeal to vague generalities as opposed to concrete data,” Kit’s mother said. “Sorry, honey. Not having the dates is like knowing why someone’s having a cardiac arrest but not being real sure where their heart is. You’re just going to have to work harder at that, even if you can’t see the point right now.”
    “You’re gonna tell me that it’ll all make sense someday,” Kit said.
    “It sure will,” his mother said, “and on that day you’ll suddenly realize that your mom wasn’t really as dumb as you secretly thought she was at the very moment you were also trying to wheedle her into letting you go jaunting off halfway across the galaxy.”
    I think this is a real good time not to say anything, Kit thought.
    “Okay,” Kit’s mama said. “I want a commitment from you that you’re going to work a lot harder in that history class, and see if maybe the guy’s really all that fixated on dates. Otherwise, the next time you want to go out on a recreational run like this, the answer is going to be no. Even if you work in other worlds, you have to live in this one… and Tom says even wizards need day jobs.”
    “I promise, Mama,” Kit said.
    His mother had another drink of coffee, then looked reflectively into the cup. “Of course,” she said, “you’d promise to turn into a three-headed gorilla as long as you could go on this trip.”
    “Mama!”
    Her grin broke out at full strength. “I know,” she said. “Wizards don’t lie. But if I don’t get to tease you sometimes, life won’t be worth living. When do you leave?”
    “Thanks, Mama!” Kit said, and jumped at her and hugged her harder than necessary, if only to get her back for the teasing.
    “It’s some time in the next couple of days, Mrs. R.,” Nita said. “I didn’t check the exact date—I was looking at the rest of the info package. We can tell you in a few minutes.”
    “Okay,” Kit’s mama said. “Get that sorted out and you can fill us in over dinner.”
    They went up to Kit’s room—or, rather, Kit ran up the steps three at a time in his excitement, and Nita came up after him. As Kit passed Carmela’s room, she put her head out and looked him up and down as if he were nuts. “What’s going on with you?” she said.
    “I get to go away for spring break!” Kit said.
    “Oh,