Chapter 43
When Zeth returned home, he was greeted by the mercenaries his mother had hired. It was a relatively small group, with just a handful of individuals, none of them too high in Level, and considering she was paying for discounted services, they didn’t seem to ever take their jobs too seriously. Out in front of the house, he saw them playing cards at a table they’d brought with them. They nodded to him as he passed.
Despite how minor their protection was, he had to admit that he did feel far more comfortable knowing they were around. Especially when he was gone, there was nothing protecting his mom and sister from a potential attacker. So even if they didn’t actually defeat anything, the sounds of fighting would at least serve as an early warning for them to run. At least, he certainly hoped so.
When he got inside, he was glad to see that his mom was out at the time, so he’d be able to dodge any questions about where he’d been during the mannitor attack. With the number of disasters that’d happened recently, all of them occurring at a time when he was suspiciously absent, he knew it was getting more and more likely by the day that someone close to him would eventually put two and two together.
If Sophie did, he had no doubt at all that she’d keep the secret for him. And Turin would probably hear him out before he did anything rash, as well. But his mom? Well, she certainly seemed to care about doing the right thing for him, but Zeth didn’t know what her version of “the right thing” would end up being. Ideally, she would never know more about him than he explicitly told her.
While his mom may have been out, though, Sophie was inside. When he peeked through her open door, he found her sitting on her floor, playing with some dolls he didn’t recognize.
“Hey,” he said, knocking on her doorway. “I’m back from work.”
She looked up, eyes brightening when she saw him, and instantly climbed to her feet, running over to give him a hug. “Zeth!”
He returned it with a single arm, his other holding the books he’d bought. “What’s up?”
“Oh,” she looked back at the little set of dolls lying motionless on the floor now that she was no longer there to puppet them around. “Mom made those for me.”