Epilogue: The Boy

Sylk combed through Darian's hair gently. She still wasn't used to how powerful his soul was. Just being next to him had her sitting in his radius, and she had to try her best and focus on the physical world so that she wasn't blinded by the aura of his soul. 

"I can deal with that, you know. I can control when I'm able to use my soul sensors," Amir suggested.

Sylk shook her head and tsked. "Last time you tried to comb his hair he cried so much because of how you dealt with the tangles."

"I thought I could just keep pulling the brush and they would come out," Amir said glumly, shivering as he remembered how Darian was so upset that he made everyone's soul feel his same pained emotion. 

"You have to have a gentle hand with these types of things."

"I know. I'm still trying to learn how to be gentle. I need to remind myself that I'm made of metal sometimes." Amir stood up, stretched, and walked towards the window. He opened the blinds to check outside. He saw the feet of passerby on the sidewalk.

They'd been hiding out in the basement apartment of Fransain for a while now. Lucky for them, they were masters of disguise.

"Are you getting worried?" Sylk asked when Amir checked the windows again.

"No. It's just that it's been a while."

The sound of keys jingled on the door above them at the top of the staircase. Amir let go of the window and grabbed onto the handle of the soul blade sheathed at his side.

The door creaked open. Cass walked down the stairs. "Honeys, I'm home," He said jokingly, carrying a huge bag on his back. Amir sighed and let go of his knife handle.

Sylk waved at him. "I knew you'd come back. I mean... you always come back. Still, two days is a lot, even for you, Cass," Sylk said.

Cass made sure the door was closed behind him before walking in to kiss Amir and Sylk on the cheeks. "Ran into a bit of trouble. What's the little soul demon up to today?" Cass bent down to make a scary face at Darian, and the child giggled.

"Careful with the crass nicknames, that's my boy you're talking about," Amir said. 

Cass shrugged. "Eh, only partly your boy. Barely your boy at all. Honestly, could you even count a soul parent as your blood parent? What's the true nature of what it means to be spiritually and unphysically connected?"

"Ugh, we get it, you miss the Rowan library," Sylk groaned.

"I should write a book to pass the time." Cass ducked as Sylk threw a pillow at him.

"What kind of trouble did you run into out there?" Amir asked curiously.

"Oh, that. It was the good kind of trouble, don't worry," Cass smiled at his partners, "But on a completely and definitely unrelated note, how do you guys feel about moving to space? I hear Mars is nice around this time of year."