She was furious. Absolutely furious! If there was a stage beyond furious, well...she was past even that. The fury, the absolute rage at his betrayal, the lies. Worst of all, the lies!
And of course, now that she was looking for him, he was nowhere to be found. Naturally. She knew he wasn't in her workroom. He wasn't in the library, or any of the vacation halls, he wasn't in the kitchen, or the art room. Not in the exercise room, or the conservatory. Not even outside in the gardens, or in the hot tubs. She hadn't had any luck tracking him down around town.
He was just gone, and wasn't here for her to scream and rage, to shout his lies and betrayal, to finally see if he knew how to be honest.
But she doubted it. Not after what she'd just seen.
Unfortunately, there was a very handy target just entering the foyer. No matter what, nothing could ever penetrate her mother's serene, calm shell. So steeped in logic was she, it seemed as though she had simply discarded emotions at some point.
"Darling, what is wrong?" That, right there, was the crux of the problem. Everything was wrong.
"He lied to us! All these generations, and that lying, dirty, yellow belly, no good, son of a...a...A LLAMA LIED TO US!"
"Oh, well, if he is a lying son of a llama, then it would make sense he lied to us. After all, if he hadn't lied to us, then accusing him of lying would be most illogical."
"Don't start with me, Mother! You aren't Dr Socks from Moon Wreck!" Charity's baffled stare almost broke Prudence's fury. "You know what I mean! Where is he?"
"Where is who?" And that query, behind her, in the sound of her beloved grandfather's voice, reignited her anger.
"You! You've lied to us, Valor! One way or another, our whole lives have been lies! Don't stare at me like that, I took another trip in my machine. And I went back further than you'd intended." In her peripheral vision, she saw the rest of her family gather - her daughter and grandson, her many grandmothers. "Why don't you tell us the truth, for once? You weren't writing letters to your mother, were you? How could you, since she's been dead since you married?"
The barb struck home, as Valor's skin paled to nearly white. The silence from the rest of the family hung in that foyer, a delicate brick, just waiting to shatter.
"Little Pru...you are wrong about that."
"Don't little Pru me! I saw her gravestone, I saw you mourning her!"
"She did not die when I married Agnes. She died to ensure Faith would survive."
"...what?"
Valor had recovered by then, and he drew himself up. "I had intended to start this next month, after the full moon. But I can do so now. If you - each and every one of you - truly want to know. If there is even a single nay, then you will all be released, and the family secret of what we are will die with me." He looked each one in the eye, one by one. "There is no change in vote when you cast it - it is final. So be absolutely sure. Because what we are - what bloodlines we hold - will change each of you more than you know.
"Faith?"
"I...I want to know, Father. If my grandmother sacrificed herself for me, I want to know why."
"Grace?"
"I'd like to know."
"Constance?"
"What can it hurt? I mean, we're already pretty changed, right?"
"Charity?"
"I would like to satisfy my curiosity, Grandfather. I vote yes."
"Prudence?"
"Of course I want to know!"
"Mercy?"
"Why not? I mean, I always figured there was something to this."
"Justice?"
"If nothing else, Grandfather, it would make for a grand tale to tell. Please tell us."
Valor nodded slightly. "In that case, make yourselves comfortable." He waited a moment, then closed his eyes momentarily. In his memory, he could see her again, dancing in the verdant fields, singing with the storms, racing over waves.
"If you are comfortable, then it is time to remember."
