Page 122 of Tsumiko and the Enslaved Fox
Argent crossed to the bunked beds and knelt. Placing the baby atop the covers, he opened a package of disposable diapers. With the same flourish he used when opening car doors or serving tea, he replaced the baby’s makeshift nappy and dressed him in a white cotton onesie.
It shouldn’t have been so strange. He’d been around for all of Michael’s and Sansa’s children, and he’d raised Gingko. Argent probably knew just as much about newborns as she did. Maybe more. That much was obvious when she’d found him in the changing room—draped in saffron pantaloons, blaze bared, speaking softly to the baby tucked under his chin. Like a doting father.
Maybe he was following orders. Only she didn’t think she’d commanded him tocarefor the little boy. So Argent must have wanted to. For her sake … for the baby’s sake … for his own sake? Weariness left her brain too addled to reason it out. Now that she was warm and clean, she was ready to collapse.
Akira paused in unloading boxed lunches, steamed buns, and bottles of tea from plastic bags. “Sis! You look better. Do you feel better? Are you hungry?”
“I’m fine. Maybe later,” she murmured. “All I really want is sleep.”
“Take my bed.”
“Are you sure?”
“I hardly ever use it,” Akira said. “There’s more room on the floor.”
More room. For what? But Tsumiko let it go. Argent scooped up the freshly diapered little one and folded back the covers so she could crawl under. Then he placed the baby at her side. He slept with one tiny hand curled over the edge of his swaddling blankets.
“He hasn’t cried once,” she whispered. “Shouldn’t he be hungry?”
“With a beacon at hand? He will be content for a few days more.”
“But shouldn’t he eat normally?”
“That would be best.”
Tsumiko brushed his fuzz of purple hair. “Maybe I should ask Sansa if she could nurse him?”
“I have no doubt she would be willing.” Argent tucked them in together, then stretched out on the floor between her bed and the boys, as if establishing a line of defense.
Suuzu doused the lights and joined Akira on the floor.
A thought occurred to Tsumiko. Surely the sun was up by now. “Don’t you boys have class?”
“Argent gave us the day off,” her brother cheerfully announced. “Which is good since you woke uswaytoo early. So we’re all gonna catch up on missed sleep.”
Tsumiko frowned at the window, the door, the clock. Shouldn’t it be brighter? And why weren’t they hearing the racket of other boys getting ready for school? Surely it was too soon for New Year’s break.
“I have gone to great lengths to ensure your comfort.” Argent glanced over his shoulder at her. “Stopthinkingand get the rest you need.”
“You’re using an illusion?”
“In conjunction with multiple sigils and wards,” he said. “Hisoka Twineshaft and Harmonious Starmark couldn’t find the door, even with every wolf in Elderbough’s pack joining them in the hunt.”
“The halls?”
Argent sounded bored as he boasted. “Overrun with pubescent humanity. But Lapis Mossberne could caper past the door in his truest form, and the ruckus would not reach our ears.”
Suuzu chuckled.
Tsumiko glanced his way and was mildly surprised by the sight of her brother using Suuzu’s shoulder for a pillow. They seemed entirely comfortable with the closeness, and she tried to remember if the futons had already been in the middle of the floor when they arrived.
Akira yawned and jostled his friend. “Get comfy already.”
The air stirred with a familiar gust, and brilliant colors burst into view. Suuzu transformed into an enormous bird with a long neck and a swaying crown of feathers. He shook out wings that shimmered with an inner light, as if each feather were ablaze.
Half-buried in tawny down, Akira called, “Don’t worry, Sis. This is totally normal.”
“You sleep this way often?” she asked.
