Aiden was told to wait in the car.

He sits there in silence, staring down at his sneakers, swinging his feet.

His aunt is on the porch. She looks nice, wearing a loose white top and high-waisted jeans. Bright red clogs to match her bright red lipstick. Her shiny, dark-gold hair is spilling down around her shoulders. She was on a date when Aiden called her. She left halfway through.

She’s working on a cigarette, speaking urgently into her phone. Aiden can’t hear her from inside the car, but he wants to know what she’s saying.

Her eyes dart to the car every now and then, checking on Aiden. But he times it just right, gets the window cracked without her noticing.

“-just gone!” Aunt Sarah’s voice is breathless and panicked, very different from how it sounded just a few minutes ago, when she told Aiden that everything was okay. “Well, you wouldn’t be saying that if you’d read this letter she left for me!”

She’s holding the letter that Aiden found on the kitchen counter. It was sealed up and addressed to his aunt, so he didn’t open it. His curiosity almost won out, but he knows better than to make his mom mad. She left the letter for his aunt, not for him. He wasn’t supposed to read it, so he didn't.

But Aunt Sarah did, and by the time she stopped reading, she looked like something had stunned her right down to her soul.

Her eyes flit back to the car, and she doesn’t miss that the window is cracked. Aiden quickly sits back, pretending that he isn’t responsible.

Aunt Sarah bites her lip, then turns back to her phone, stabbing her cigarette into the ashtray.

“I have to go. I need to take care of him first, okay? Just let me know if you hear anything.”

Aiden turns his face away as his aunt opens the driver’s side door and bends to look in.

“Aiden. Sweetie.”

He doesn’t look at her. He’s thrown off, shaken by the panic he heard in her voice.

“Aiden.” Aunt Sarah reaches into the car and gently places her hand on his shoulder. “You’re gonna come stay with me again, alright? You - you need to come get your things.”

Aiden points at the backseat, where he already put the backpack he always takes to his aunt’s house.

His aunt hesitates.

“Honey, I - I think you’re going to be staying longer, this time. You should bring more clothes, and anything else you…”

She leaves the sentence hanging. Aiden still doesn’t turn his head.

“I have enough,” he insists. “For until mom comes back.”

Aunt Sarah suddenly lets out a sharp, half-stifled sob. It sounds like it was torn out of her.

Startled and alarmed, Aiden finally looks at her. But she quickly straightens up, pulling her head out of the car before he can see her face.

“Okay, baby.” Her hand is clinging tightly to the car door. “I’ll go grab you one or two more things, just to be safe. Will you promise me you’ll stay in the car while I do it?”

Aiden nods, then realizes she can’t see it, how she’s standing. “Okay.”

He watches his aunt head back towards his house, and - something constricts in his heart, so suddenly and painfully that tears almost spring to his eyes. He doesn’t know where it came from, or what it means, but he urgently feels like he needs to go with his aunt. To be in his house, his bedroom.

He scrambles out of the car. Aunt Sarah turns, hearing his running footsteps.

“Aiden! You promised me-”

She stops, realizing he's headed right for her. She takes his hand when he gets there, and leads him inside.

Her phone buzzes. She glances down at Aiden, then picks up the call, begins speaking softly.

“Hey, Josh - I’m sorry I ran out like that, I - have some family stuff going on... No, it’s not that, I had a lovely time, honestly! But I’m not sure when I can reschedule, I’ve got a lot going on...”

Aiden leaves her by the door and rushes upstairs to his bedroom.

He goes to his bed and sits down on it. He thinks this will make things feel more normal, but it doesn’t. Something is off, very wrong, or his aunt wouldn’t be so upset. Aiden sees her upset all the time - she argues a lot with his mom - but never like this.

Whatever the wrongness is, it makes Aiden want his mom. There’s comfort in her presence, even if he’s unhappy when she’s around. She’s a Guardian, a protector. She’ll keep him safe from whatever this is. And she’ll keep his aunt safe, too. Aiden knows that his mom must love his aunt, deep down.

Usually Aiden’s mom is still home when his aunt comes to pick him up. She’s just angry, or sad. Or there, but gone. That’s how Aiden thinks of her on days and nights when she sits for hours in blank, unbroken silence.

This time, though - his mom isn’t here at all, and Aiden doesn’t understand what happened.

She wasn’t here when he woke up yesterday morning. And that was fun, at first. Aiden wandered around the house, thrilled to skip his Guardian training. He watched a movie, which he’s not normally allowed to do unless it’s a weekend. He went into the backyard and kicked his soccer ball around for a few blissful hours.

He ate whatever he wanted from the kitchen, then watched Atlantis again, wondering what he did to deserve such an unexpectedly awesome day. The letter was there on the counter, and he was curious, but he didn’t think too much about it.

He even thought about sneaking out to see if he could play with some other kids, but that seemed too far. He could get in big trouble for that, especially if he does any accidental magic. Still, even knowing that he could was exciting.

But at night, it wasn’t fun anymore. Aiden was tired, and he wanted something to eat besides snacks and candy. He’d had a sugar crash and fallen asleep in the afternoon, sprawled out awkwardly on the hard living room floor. The unintended nap left him with a lingering feeling of achiness and grogginess.

He called his mom, but she didn’t answer her phone.

Aiden began to wonder if he’d made his mom mad without realizing it. That would be weird, because Aiden is pretty good at being able to tell. If he even hears a cabinet slam hard enough from downstairs, he knows to go find his mom and apologize for whatever he did.

He didn’t think she seemed mad the day before, when she was here. She actually gave him a very long hug before he went to sleep, twining her fingers through his hair. It was a nice surprise.

Night flung its shadows over the house, and still, Aiden was by himself. He made a few magic lights, but they were imperfect, flickering in a way that spooked him.

He left every light in the house switched on all night. He slept in his mom’s bed and dreamt of the glow acting like a lighthouse, drawing her home. He waited until late afternoon the next day - today - to call Aunt Sarah.

She appears in the doorway of the bedroom, sees Aiden on the bed.

“Hey, you.” Her voice is almost suspiciously pulled back together from the trembling, strained way it sounded before. “Let’s grab your stuff, alright? This’ll be fun, you’ll get to stay with me for a good long time, honey. I’ll - we’ll make it fun. Where’s that pillow you like?”

Aiden nods at the one with the soccer ball print pillowcase. Aunt Sarah hands it to him, then touches his cheek.

“Maybe let’s bring that?” she suggests.

Aiden takes the pillow, but sets it back down on his bed, looking at his aunt with his eyebrows knitted. Why would he take the pillow with him to her house? It’ll be here when he gets back.

Aunt Sarah closes her eyes for a second, then opens them again.

“Do you not want to come to my house?” she asks. “Do you want me to stay here with you, instead? Have a sleepover, just for tonight?”

The offer pulls at Aiden's heart, but - the house feels weird without his mom here.

“No, I’ll come,” he mumbles, and his aunt nods slowly.

“Okay. Just grab some more clothes, please.”

As Aiden gathers up his stuff, he sees that his aunt is taking things, too. Some of his books, more pairs of his shoes, his favorite Lego set, his soccer ball. His copy of Atlantis, and a few other movies that he likes.

He notices that she takes the pillow from his bed and tucks it under her arm.

Even the silences are strange, today. Aunt Sarah's lips are pressed tightly together, and she keeps biting the inside of her cheek.

Back in the car again, Aiden twists around to look at his house. He watches as it’s swallowed up by the trees. He’s usually relieved to go away from it, but today, for some untraceable reason, he feels sad to leave it. There’s a weird, unsettling emptiness within him. He hugs his pillow, trying again to think if he did something to make his mom mad.

Aunt Sarah reaches back and puts a consoling hand on his knee. She seems to breathe more freely when the house falls out of the rearview mirror. Aiden takes comfort in that, and in the reassuring pressure of her touch.

He brightens up a little. He likes staying at his aunt’s house, anyways, and he’s happy that he doesn’t have to practice his magic. He can’t train without his mom there, which means he’ll be free for a day or two, or however long she’s gone.

Everything is going to be okay. Aiden will be back at his own house before long. Just as soon as his mom comes home.

~~~~

There’s a small fair passing through town. Games and rides are set up along the beach, along with food booths and people selling things.

Aiden thought that he was going right to Aunt Sarah’s house, but she takes him here instead. She parks the car and knocks on the roof for Aiden to get out.

“I have to make a few calls, honey,” she tells him. “Here’s some money, okay? Go have fun for a little bit. Just don’t go out of my sight. I’ll be right here.”

She points at an unoccupied bench near the sand.

Aiden doesn’t want to leave his aunt. She still seems upset. She has the same warm coloring as Aiden, but right now she's very pale. She didn’t say a word on the drive here, and she’s already fumbling in her purse for another cigarette, her fingers trembling.

“I’ll sit with you, Auntie,” Aiden offers.

Aunt Sarah stops, straightens up, and looks down at Aiden with affectionate warmth in her eyes.

“Thanks, sweetheart, but - you just go have a good time, okay?”

Aiden goes down to the fair. He hesitates in front of the bustling scene before him, standing off from all the activity. The sun is setting, and the sky is a flawless sheet of deep blue, with a line of burning orange melting at the horizon. Birds are wheeling about overhead, and kids are running between games, shouting and laughing, comparing prizes.

Aiden fidgets nervously, twisting his fingers together. All the other kids here seem to know each other. No one else came here alone, like he did. He doesn’t see any other kids playing games or going on rides alone. Won’t it be weird, if he does?

For a while he watches the rides in movement. They stress him out a little. What if a kid falls, or a ride breaks, and someone gets hurt? His mom isn’t around, so - would he have to be the one to help?

But after some time watching, Aiden finds himself itching to join in on the fun, the laughter.

He looks around for a potential friend, even though he’s very shy, and not sure how to make one. He sees a girl around his age standing alone by the Ring Toss. He gingerly starts in her direction, but another girl dashes up to her with two candy apples, and they laughingly rush off together towards one of the other games.

Aiden stops in his tracks. Now that he’s looking around, he’s realizing that girls only seem to be hanging out with other girls, and boys with other boys. Was he about to make a mistake, going over to try and befriend that girl? Break some code he doesn’t know about? He really doesn't know what he's doing...

Aiden stands there, not sure what to do with himself. Feeling - outside.

He comes back to his aunt much sooner than she expected him. The fading glow of the sunset has dimmed, but not disappeared. It’s a beautiful, open evening, and the lights of the fair are pretty against the delicate dusk. But Aunt Sarah isn’t looking at any of it.

She’s still on the bench, her forehead in one hand, her phone in the other.

“I don’t know what to do,” she’s saying, her voice scraping. “How do I handle this, with him? I-”

She stops, having looked up and found Aiden standing before her. She sniffles, quickly runs a hand under her nose.

“Call me if you hear anything,” she says hastily, and hangs up. “Aiden - you’re back so soon? Why don’t you go play skee ball, or something?”

“I spent all my money.”

“Already? On what?”

Aiden holds out what he bought at the vendor fair behind the games and rides. It’s a clear glass teacup, like the other ones Aunt Sarah has, except that this one has a bright green rim.

His aunt stares at it blankly, then looks up at him.

“For you,” Aiden explains, offering it out to her. “Because you’re sad.”

Aunt Sarah slowly takes the cup from Aiden’s hands. She stares down at it, then closes her eyes for a long moment.

She takes Aiden by the back of his neck, pulls him forward, and presses a kiss onto the top of his head.

“Thank you, sweetheart,” she whispers, and Aiden is dismayed to hear that she sounds closer to tears, not further.

“I’m sorry, Auntie,” he says anxiously. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No, not at all.” She sits back, blinking hard and fast, and swipes the back of her hand over her eyes. “Come on, let’s - let’s go home.”

~~~~

The familiar dark green and chocolate-colored interior of Aunt Sarah’s house is a comfort to Aiden. It’s night, but his aunt makes him breakfast food, and eating something warm and filling makes him feel better, too.

He stretches out on the rug in front of the fireplace after he eats, watching the light of the fire dance against the painted tiles around it. His aunt sits on the couch. Silent, lost in thought.

She still looks upset, so Aiden moves over and puts his head on her knee.

She trails her fingers through his hair, then reaches down and lifts him up to sit next to her. She takes him into her arms, fixes him with a warm smile.

“You’re getting big, aren’t you? Tall for your age, you know.”

Aiden is tired out, and it’s cozy to sit like this. He closes his eyes, yawns deeply.

“Auntie,” he says, “When is my mom coming back? Where is she?”

Aunt Sarah’s arms tighten around him.

“Let’s talk about that later,” she says softly. “You’ve had a long day, and you need some sleep…”

She fades off.

“Will you be happy?” she asks suddenly. “Staying here with me?”

Aiden nods earnestly, and Aunt Sarah lets out a breath.

Aiden means it. He likes staying here, and he feels much better already.

Besides, his mom will be back.

Aiden’s mom always tells him that no one will love him for himself, only for his being a Guardian. But Aiden knows in his heart that it isn't true. Because she loves him. She herself is the indisputable proof that what she's always telling him can’t be true. She's the one thing that stands between him and believing it.

Aiden's mom loves him. That’s why she’ll be back for him. And then his aunt will feel better, too.

Reassured, comfy, and exhausted, Aiden sinks down to sleep in his aunt’s arms. The last thing he’s aware of is Aunt Sarah bending to press a kiss onto his forehead.

If Aiden has to live in a new home for a while, he’s glad that it’s this one.