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I was even more confused by the time I saw Geebus. I had taken Cindy's help-the-orphans drive as an excuse to stay in Durem, (I'm pretty sure I'm the only person other than her who knows why she cares about orphans so much!), and was dropping off a sweet, very smart, little girl named Anna at the adoption agency. I would have loved to keep her, but common sense reminded me that even the thought was absurd. I gave her a big hug and tried not to cry as she said tearfully "Thank you, kind lady!" and draped a handmade scarf around my neck.
I went straight to the orphanage and picked up another to help. This one was a tiny, sickly-looking girl, also named Anna (how very odd), who was missing a thumb and could barely walk. Just my luck to get such a pitiful child...but she was light enough. I was walking back to Natasha and Devin's with her in my arms, to see if I could get her invited to dinner...and I saw him. The same odd man who had been standing outside the adoption agency...I felt a chill of panic, and my flames leaped, unbidden, to life. I ran as fast as I could over the icy cobblestones to Skin Tyte, and slammed the door behind me.
Devin looked up from the tattoo design he was sketching, and raised his tattooed eyebrows. "Trouble?" he asked.
"Just had to run from a pervert," I said. "At least I think he was a pervert..."
"Oh," Devin said, "I thought it was something metaphysical."
And that was that, until the ringing of the telephone interrupted dinner. Natasha went to get it, but soon came back looking surprised, even for her. "It's for you, kid," she said, taking the hardtack I had been feeding Anna (it was the only thing she'd eat!). "Cindy Donovinh wants to talk to you...and no, I don't know how she knows you're here."
Cindy soon told me. "I've been working with your father to find you," she said once we got through greeting each other. "He must have more brains than you seemed to think, or he hired an expensive digger...anyway, he was so busy searching for you, he belatedly discovered that the sister Celeste told him about was alive and well, and on the nightly news."
I sputtered in shock, and tried to think of what to say. Cindy went on, sounding something between amused and angry, "I understand being rebellious, but why can't you come over, now that you're back? Like, say, tomorrow night? Have a good meal, go over old times, sing a few carols..."
"Well, I've got an orphan to look after..." I said.
"Then bring the poor kid over," she said, sounding rather wistful. "I wouldn't be the one to turn away an orphan...do you need money for the train? You must be broke, with no job or anything!"
Much to my regret, I did need money, and had to accept her buying me a pair of train tickets. But it wasn't Anna I took with me the next evening, for she cleaned up quickly and was ready to be adopted by then. I was sorry to leave her, but again, I knew I couldn't look after a kid.
So when I boarded the train to Barton, it was with a fat boy who looked about twelve, called himself Goober, needed regular doses of bone tonic, and told stories so far-fetched I didn't know whether anything he said could be believed. He had tidied up quite well, though, and he looked almost nice in his second-hand store jeans and sweater. The only problem was, he was very gabby.
"Where are we going, big sis?" he asked for the fifth time. I gritted my teeth and reminded myself that I was likely only five years older than him. Him calling me "big sis" was understandable.
'We're going to see my aunt," I said, deciding that perhaps "you'll see when we get there" wasn't a good enough answer.
"Does she like orphans?" he asked as we got on the train.
I shrugged. "She was an orphan herself, so she understands what it's like," I said. "Same as me, I guess."
"You were an orphan?" Goober asked, snagging us a good compartment.
"As good as one," I said, sitting down. "Or as bad."
Goober entertained me with his stories, and the trip went quickly. We were slipping through the icy slush outside the Barton train station when a very familiar car drove up, a window rolled down, and a very familiar face looked out. "I figured you'd be needing a lift," she said. "Get in!"
Once in the warm car, Goober said "So your aunt knows Cindy Donovinh, big sis?"
Cindy looked more then a little confused. "I am Dawna's aunt!" she said. I chuckled, slammed the back door, and got in the front next to Cindy.
"Goober, meet my aunt, Cindy Donovinh. Cindy, meet my little brother Goober."
Goober gabbed all the way to Cindy's house, going on about how great the car was, how he'd never been in one before, and so on... By the time we got to the house, he was even calling Cindy "Aunt Cindy". I hoped she wasn't annoyed.
Oddly, the house was lit up. I was too busy helping Goober, who lacked proper shoes, through the slush to ask about it, but I certainly wasn't expecting to see what I did in the kitchen. It was perfectly together, my teapot on its shelf, and Edmund was standing there, mixing a large bowl of what smelled like punch. "Merry Xmas, everyone!" he said, flinging open the door to the living room and pushing me in.
Sitting on the couch was Gambino, Lady Luck sprawled across his lap. Gino perched nervously next to him, Bucho scowled in a corner, and Geebus was standing by the window, rubbing his hands delightedly.
About half a minute latter I found myself in Gambino's arms, with Lady Luck on my head. Two minutes later I was seated between Gambino and Gino, Lady Luck on my lap and a glass of punch in my hand. Then came explanations of how the man following me was Geebus, who was tracking me for Gambino. And then came the dress.
"I can't have my daughter in ragged clothes for an Xmas party!" Gambino said. "I saved your mother's things, you know...and I think you may be the same size, so I brought one of her ball gowns. It's in your room, go try it on!"
The dress was lovely, and it seemed fit perfectly, but I couldn't get the zipper on the back zipped up by myself. So I yelled down the stairs for Cindy to help, and held up the front of the sky blue, strapless, spangled dress while she zipped up the back. Only problem was...I'd forgotten about the tattoos. I had, in a moment of foolish bravado during the vampire war, allowed Devin to tattoo what he called symbols of strength on my right arm. I didn't know if the black wing on my upper arm and green-and-yellow flame on my wrist made me any stronger, but I had quickly learned that the psychic inks took more than a little concentration to turn off, and even more to turn on. So I left my tattoos on all the time.
"Your father is going to flip!" Cindy whispered, staring at the tattoos.
"I'll turn them off!" I said quickly, surprised she wasn't flipping. She shook her head.
"No, you'll slip up and show them sometime," she said. "I've got a better idea." She zipped up the dress, and...
It only took a small ransacking of her wardrobe to bedeck me in bells from my ears to my neck, and a few scarfs, pins, and cloth flowers to both hide my matted hair and make my tattoos look tame compared to the rest of me. Gambino's jaw dropped when he saw me, but not because of the tattoos. Then Edmund produced a lovely pair of boots that fit me as well as he said they'd fit my mother, and were very good for dancing in...
By the time the party fell asleep, well past two in the morning, Goober had drunk too much punch and was being sick in the sink, Gino was snoring on the couch, Geebus and Bucho were shouting at each other about security, Cindy and Gambino had disappeared at the same time, and Edmund was having a deep discourse about reincarnation with Lady Luck, who looked bored. I left them all to their own devices, even Cindy and Gambino, and took myself to bed. That was last night, and I've only just woken up!