"I don't know about you guys but I'm pretty sure we shouldbe totally freaking out right now." It's the magic," said Liam. "It's normalizing this. Fitt...ng us in." What does it matter?" said Millicent. "The memory may not be clear, butI fucking well know that this is a huge improvement. I feel like I'vebeen Millicent Hua since we were adopted and our old name was Hayes.Anyway, I wish I was as pretty as Mama." Yeah," I said, "I get what you mean. Maybe I can convince my shittyparents to come down. She would track those back to the potential developer and make her call. She was bringing all the successful tools she used in her previous job to get her new career launched.It was a little over a week before our Christmas break when she bounced into my office one afternoon, came around the desk and plopped herself in my lap. Two arms wrapped around my neck told me that she was in a good mood and had some news for me."Have a look at this," she beamed. "It's your early Christmas present."I took. He let her absorb that for a moment before letting the rune fade and speaking again, “The other thing I’m keeping from you...”Her eyes left the fading rune and met his, “You said ‘other’ not ‘last’,” it was a statement, not a question.Kal nodded, “I won’t betray Ikuno’s trust, mother, I’m sure she has her reasons for only wanting you to know her name and nothing else. The other thing I’m keeping from you is that Ikuno and Gerda belong to me.”His mother’s eyes narrowed, “How do you. It was a form-fitting sleeveless velvet dress that left little to theimagination. It accentuated her new curves rather than concealed them.Her boots came next, splitting open and then wrapping around her feet.Twisting and contorting as they climbed up her legs stopping a fewinches below her knees. The heels rose, and Santa stumbled forward,throwing a hand up to help balance herself. A pair of candy caneearrings appeared dangling from her ears. Her fingers touched her faceand when she brought.