Right after dinner was eaten and everything was clean, we got a phone call. It was to the phone that I was sure never worked. Izadeth ran down the stairs to answer it after I stared at it for a good minute. The other boys ran down the front stairs and the girls came from the back stairs a few minutes later. I was paying too much attention to the kids running into the front room to notice what Izadeth was saying, but I did hear it when he hung up.

"What is it?" Deraneth asked.

"It's a mission." Izadeth said, "We have to go to the forest." I frowned, what did he mean by 'mission'?

"Okay, everyone." Havelin said, "Hold hands. I'm going to try to get everyone there. You said the forest, right, Izadeth?"

"Yes, Havelin." Izadeth said, "The forest."

"What mission? What forest?" I asked, "I'm not letting you go on a mission if it means that your lives could be in danger."

"We have Aimiley for that." Izadeth said, "Don't worry about us."

"What if Aimiley isn't enough?" I asked, "What if someone dies?"

"No one's going to die." Benaston said, "We've done this before."

"Now everyone, hold hands." Havelin said, "Quickly." The kids each held hands, a bright light surrounded them, and they disappeared.

It was about three or fours hours later that they came back, some of them with torn and bloodied clothes, but no obvious wounds. I was glad that they made it back in one piece.

"I was so worried about you kids." I said, "Now, go take showers or baths or whatever and get yourselves clean. Tomorrow's a Saturday, so we're going to go out in shifts and get you new clothes."

"We get to pick them?" Ambinessa asked.

"Yes." I said, "But I can only bring out a few of you at a time and we're only going to the nearest clothing store, which I'm pretty sure has clothes for both sexes. I'll only be able to buy a few things for each child, so I'm making the limit be six items."

"I don't have to keep wearing hand-me-downs?" Nyder asked.

"No," I said, "You'll still have to wear them, but you'll have six clothing items that are just yours. And I'm not buying shoes. That's enough of that, go get clean and go to bed." They all smiled and went up to their rooms.

The next day was busy and each of the kids picked six items, though the final price, after I added up the four totals, was crazy. I also have to remember that Aimiley and Havelin tend to wander off, Darinus likes to be held, and apparently the older girl's jeans usually already have rips in them.