14
I entered the Sun Room at the Strange Mansion just as labgrown began to serve breakfast. I still didn't know how I was going to tell my parents what I'd learned. I'd grieved for four days at the Thompson's cabin on the North Ciprian coast, and I'd thought through a hundred ways to tell them. None of those ways seemed adequate now, and I felt completely unprepared.
I met Mother's gaze and smiled, somehow. “Good morning,” I said, moving around the table to my usual chair and greeting Father along the way.
“How was your vacation in Ciprias?” Father asked.
I eased myself into my chair, and the labgrown began to serve me. “Thank you,” I said, conscious now that but for a twist of fate I could be serving this breakfast. “I really enjoyed myself for the first few days. The ocean is wonderf
