The Unskillful Thaumaturge

XXXVI

Lillian's phone buzzed in her pocket. Pulling it out, she sighed, swiped to accept, and held the device to her ear. Derek's voice crackled through the speaker.

"Well, your parents definitely learned something, but we didn't."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, of course, they acted surprised. Chris was saying how it had always been in the back of their minds but they'd never completely been willing to accept it. They did adopt a baby in Eugene right after the Thaumatogenesis, after all."

"How did they react?"

"After they got over the surprise, they were pretty normal. They answered all our questions."

"Did you gain anything from the interview?"

"Like I said, they really didn't know anything, so I don't even know why we went to interview them. The cops from the Thaumatogenesis didn't have any additional information either. We asked them pretty much everything we could think of and the only new piece of information we've had all day is that they called him J instead of Jeremiah."

"Who, Raleigh?"

"Do you know of another Jeremiah?" When Lillian didn't respond, Derek continued. "We're going to get in the car now and drive over to Roseburg to talk to Galena's mother. I'll be driving, so can I give you to Rolf?"

"Sure," Lillian answered, leaning her elbows on the desk. A few seconds later, Rolf began speaking. "Hey Lillian, how are you?"

"Pretty good. I was just wondering what kind of permissions you have to question Ashley."

"We're probably going to end up arresting her. She lives in an apartment building, so they should have a key for her door. If she doesn't answer the door, we're going in."

At this, Lillian gave a slight shudder before replying. "You guys do what you have to do. We need to find out everything she knows."

❧☙

Dakota strolled into the wide room and stopped short when he noticed an enormous pile of luggage, furniture, and belongings in the center of the floor.

What is all this stuff doing here?

Part of the pile began to shift, and Dakota worriedly backed away. Rory's face poked out of the side. "Oh, hi," he acknowledged. "Some is mine, some is Ashley's."

"How do you know whose is whose?"

Rory glared.

"Sorry." Dakota stared at the pile for a few seconds. "Need a hand?"

"Sure." Rory glowered at a sofa, and it began rising up the stairs. Dakota did likewise, lifting several chairs and a suitcase.

"I'll go and make sure it gets into the right rooms," Rory muttered, mounting the stairs behind the last chair. A bed lifted off the top of the pile and dreamily floated after Rory as he climbed.

For the next half hour or so, Dakota levitated various objects up the stairs with half-closed eyes, passing them off to Rory as they lifted out of sight. Several times he nearly fell asleep, but he always managed to wake himself up before dropping anything.

Dakota heard Rory's footsteps on the stairs. As his face came into view, Dakota noticed that he was smiling brightly, which was rare in and of itself. Clomping down the stairs, Rory joined him, sitting down in one of the spinning chairs.

"What are you so happy about?"

"I finished," Rory responded. "Everything's organized neatly up there. I'm done."