Spindle Wood (COMPLETED)

Chapter 23

"Papa?"

"Mhm?" Virgil glanced up from the spare cuttings of felt caught in his scissors. Pat was fully focused on painting the spinning top Virgil had tasked him with, the tip of his tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth.

Pat opened his mouth to say something. Then, he changed his mind. "Nothing." He said instead. "Nevermind."

"Are you okay, Pat?" Virgil asked, managing to extract the scraps from his scissors.

"Yep." Pat said confidently. "Just thinking..."

"Penny for them?" Pat looked up at Virgil.

"Penny for who?"

"Your thoughts." Virgil said. "It's a saying. 'Penny for your thoughts'."

Pat wrinkled his nose. "It's a weird saying."

"A lot of them are." Virgil said. He slid the scissors onto a shelf he knew Pat couldn't reach and glanced down at Pat's spinning top. "How's it going? Nearly done?"

"Mhm!" Pat said, grinning. "I just wanna add some little details and then it will be done. Definitely."

Virgil's laugh was more a fond huff of air as he smiled down at the 12 year old. And then, it all hit him again. The guilt and doubt always lurking just at the back of his mind.

He blinked and shook his head, as if the thoughts were just flies he could rid himself of. This was for the best. It was the only way to keep him safe.

"I'm done!" Pat cried excitedly. He held the spinning top aloft like a trophy. Virgil smiled at him, forcefully banishing the guilt from his mind.

"Great, Pat." Carefully, Virgil took the spinning top and set it by the window. It tipped over and leant against the window frame. "All we need to do-"

"Is wait for it to dry and glaze it and then it will be perfect." Pat recited. He grinned cheekily at Virgil. "It's what you always say."

Virgil blinked. "Since when did you get so cheeky?" He asked with a small laugh in his voice. Pat shrugged and jumped off his chair to look out the window.

"Can I go outside?" He asked.

"Wait until Roman gets home and then-"

"No, I mean alone." Pat interrupted. He looked up at Virgil's shocked face innocently. "I don't mean now if it's not good but properly. With reason." When Virgil didn't say anything, he carried on. "I'm old enough." That seemed to be the end of his argument.

Virgil took a breath, weighing up the options in his mind. As far as he knew, his spell hadn't been breached. Pat was safe as long as he didn't go past the river. But then again, there were all sorts of things Janus could do to hurt Pat without laying a finger on him...

"Like I said, wait until your Dada gets home." Virgil said. "We can talk about it properly, then. A whole family thing."

"Speaking of whole family, where's Uncle Remus?" Pat asked.

"Uh... I think he went out to the market, why?" Pat shrugged.

"No reason." He said. "I just wanted to talk to him."

"You can talk to me?" Virgil offered. Pat shook his head.

"This is specifically an Uncle Remus issue." He said, punctuating each word with a nod of his head.

"Okay, well, I'll pass the message onto him." Virgil said, trying to act as serious as Pat was. "Then, you two can talk when he does bedtime."

"But he did bedtime yesterday." Pat said. "And it's Dada's turn today."

Virgil shrugged. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind." He grinned secretly. "Go head upstairs and bring Smoke down. I've got a surprise for you and her."

"A surprise?!" Pat repeated. Virgil nodded and Pat turned on his heel and ran up the stairs, nearly crashing into a wall in his excitement.

"Careful!" Virgil called after him. He grabbed two wooden knights and royals from the top shelf. Hearing Pat's footsteps, he whirled around, hiding the figures behind his back.

"Okay, here's Smoke." Pat called. "What's the surprise?"

"Well, I was just thinking," Virgil said, "that it's pretty difficult to play games with a dragon when you don't have anything to weave a story around." He brought the wooden royals and knights out from behind his back. "So, I managed to make these for you."

Pat stared at the toys for a second before letting out a squeal and hugging Virgil tightly. He nearly knocked Virgil off-balance, shouting excitedly and thanking Virgil in turn.

"So the surprise is well-received?" Virgil asked.

"Yep, yep, yep, yep! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Pat shouted. Virgil laughed fondly.

"Glad you like them, Pat."

No, I don't know what this chapter was. Nor do I like it.
Bye,
Blaize