Space Cadets

“You made it safely?”

“Yes, Daddy.” Eliza had dropped her bag on Colin’s bed, feeling weird at the idea of sleeping in it, and then called Marcellus on her comm-screen to check in, as promised.

“And you’ll be back in four more days?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Your mother is positively ecstatic that the queen’s own tailors are making dresses for all of you. I swear she wasn’t even this excited on our wedding day.”

“Well she’s getting a dress made for her by a queen. All she got on her wedding day was you.”

He clutched his chest as though wounded. “All she got was me? I was a very eligible bachelor.”

“But marrying her made you no longer eligible nor a bachelor.”

“Ah. I suppose you’re right. You know, you never did mention where you are.”

“With my guard,” Eliza said evasively. Her father’s eyes narrowed.

“You’re not...are you sneaking off for some kind of tryst with your guard?”

Eliza sputtered and nearly dropped her comm-screen. “Am I what? No, Dad, gross! Why would you even say that to me that’s so weird and just...ew.” She was technically spending the next couple of nights in Colin’s bed, but that was not a detail anyone needed to know.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry, I just felt like I needed to ask.”

“I am going to hang up now, and I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“That seems fair.”

“Bye, Daddy.”

“Be safe.”

Eliza ended the call and her father’s red face vanished from the screen. Eliza stuffed it back into her bag as a knock sounded at the door.

“Come in.”

Becca poked her head inside. “You can keep settling in if you like, I’m just about to start dinner.”

“I’ll help.”

“Oh, you don’t need to do that. You’re a guest.”

“A guest who came here to help,” Eliza said. “Besides if I stay in here too long, I might get gross Colin cooties. Should probably let it air out a bit more.”

Becca giggled and Colin called out, “I heard that” from down the hall. Eliza followed Becca into the kitchen, where the girl set to work fashioning the assorted food they had in the cupboards into a hearty stew. Eliza pushed up the sleeves of her sweater and helped Becca chop vegetables and make a broth.

“Oh, so she’s pretty and she cooks,” Josef said. “A woman after my own heart.”

“Dad, please,” Colin groaned.

“Young man, you cannot spend time in the presence of a lovely woman and not show appreciation for her loveliness.” He caught Eliza’s eye and shot her a quick wink and she smiled slightly.

“Mr. Holman, what on earth are you working in a factory for? You could sell that silver tongue of yours and make a fortune.”

Josef’s eyes crinkled and he let out a bark of delighted laughter. “See, Colin. She’s a treasure.”

Colin just sighed, his face flaming red. Josef turned back to Eliza.

“But really I must insist, call me Josef. Mr. Holman makes me feel old.”

“Nonsense. I was certain you were Colin’s younger brother when I walked in.”

He cracked another grin, something he seemed to do easily despite what bad shape he was in. Eliza chatted with Becca as they made dinner, and George eventually began to get antsy, trying to climb on Colin’s back to hang spoons off his nose.

“Hey George,” Eliza called. “You wanna see me turn these napkins into swans?”

“No way, you cannot,” George protested.

“Oh can’t I?” Eliza plucked a napkin off the table with a flourish, deftly folding it into the shape of a swan. George’s eyes went round as saucers.

“Wow! Show me!” He scrambled off of a long-suffering Colin and ran to Eliza’s side. They were just finishing the last napkin swan when a very pretty but very tired-looking woman came through the front door.

“Josef, why aren’t you in bed?” she asked, removing the cap from her head and hanging it by the door before kicking off her boots.

“Because our son is visiting,” Josef replied. “And he brought a friend with him.”

“Colin!” The woman rushed forward to hug him, her arms wrapping around him before he’d even gotten all the way to his feet.

“Hi, Ma,” Colin said quietly.

“Now what’s this about a friend?” Thalia turned around and finally noticed Eliza standing at the table with George.

“I’m Eliza,” she said. “I came with Colin. I’m a nurse. It’s very nice to meet you, Mrs. Holman.”

“Thalia will do. I hope my husband has been behaving himself. I really can’t take him anywhere.”

“Thalia, my radiant star, you wound me.”

“Don’t tempt me, you incorrigible flirt.” But her gaze softened when she looked at her husband and she was smiling. She started fussing over Josef, asking if he’d taken the medicine he’d been given by the physician and telling him he really shouldn’t be out of bed.

“Ah, but the girls made dinner and I couldn’t possibly miss that.”

“Did they now? So that’s what smells so good.”

“Eliza showed me how to make swans,” George said excitedly, tugging his mother to the table. Everyone crowded in around the table, pushing a more comfortable chair over for Josef to sit in. Eliza watched the Holman family joke and jostle with each other, feeling a little envious. Her family was hardly estranged, but she had nothing in common with her perfect sisters, and they were constantly having dinner with important people. So formal and best behavior only. She had a distant memory of her family having fun at dinner a few times when she was very young, before her father was made an Ambassador and before Jocelyn and Bianca grew up and became socialite sensations. Eliza didn’t even have any close friends to speak of. She felt slightly like an intruder on the Holmans’ cozy family dinner, but everyone was nice to her.

After dinner, Eliza helped Colin and Becca clean up before assisting Josef with adjusting the bandage on his leg. Colin lucked out with his nurse ruse; since she dedicated so much time to learning things, Eliza did have some general first aid knowledge. She could pass as a nurse for a couple of days.

George was sitting on the end of the couch, a book in his hand and a frustrated look on his face.

“What’s that you’re reading?” Eliza asked. “Another haunted house story?”

“It’s about a boy who finds a portal under his stairs,” George replied. “But I’m a slow reader.”

“Well I can read to you, if you want.”

George hesitantly handed the book to her and Eliza sat down, flipping back to page one and starting from the beginning since George wasn’t even a whole chapter in. George still seemed a little shy around her but seemed to grow more comfortable as she read. Eventually he inches closer and then was curled up right beside her, peering over her arm to look at the pages. Even Becca looked up from her schoolbooks where she was laying on the floor, and Thalia and Josef both nodded off. Thalia was clearly exhausted and the radiation sickness drained Josef’s energy too. Eliza kept reading until she noticed George slump over and fall asleep against her arm. Becca was starting to doze off using her book as a pillow. The only other person still awake was Colin.

“You got George to sleep without a fuss,” he said. “Impressive.”

“It’s just late,” Eliza replied. She marked the spot in the book, setting it aside and carefully picking George up. Colin gently nudged Becca, who lifted her head and blinked blearily.

“Bed time, girl genius,” Colin whispered. Becca shuffled off to her bedroom and Eliza handed George off to Colin so he could tuck him in. Eliza took the blanket from her borrowed room and draped it over the sleeping Holman parents. She couldn’t bring herself to wake them. She noticed Colin watching her and tucked her hair anxiously behind her ears, cheeks turning pink.

“Good night,” she said abruptly, retreating back to his room.