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“Camila! Look!” Gus burst into the room, a sash draped across his shoulder. “These are called patches, and Vee found a whole bag of them, and Hunter made this for me!”
“Very nice,” Camila complimented, adjusting her glasses to study the bright blue fabric the boy was holding out. She recognized the patches—you could buy bags of them for a few dollars at the craft store—and they’d been sewn on with varying degrees of skill.
“I look just like a human warrior in this,” he declared, posing with a hand on his hip. “Like one of The Flower Scouts!”
“The…the Flower Scouts?”
“They’re a fearsome, elite band of child warriors,” Gus explained in a whisper. “We saw a group of them selling rations at the gas station. I’m not sure what they need so many snails for, but my plan is to infiltrate them and find out. A group that organized must have information we can use to get back to the demon realm.”
“Oh, no, Gus, that’s not what the Flower Scouts do.”
“It’s not?” he looked up at her, puzzled. “But we saw them harassing someone into buying their rations, and Vee said not to make eye contact or we’d be next.”
Camila grimaced. She’d tried to be a Flower Scout, once upon a time, but had never really fit in. She hadn’t been girly enough and would rather read than spend hours coercing people to buy cookies or popcorn, or whatever it was the scouts were pedaling these days.
“The Flower Scouts are kind of like a club,” she explained. “It used to be just for girls, but I think they let boys in too, now. They do a lot of activities together, and selling cookies and candy and other stuff is how they raise money for the club.”
“Oh.”
Gus’s face fell, and he stared down at the strip of fabric hanging off his shoulder. He fiddled with it, rubbing a patch of a smiley face with three eyes.
“But this is still really cool,” Camila hurriedly added. “I like these here, in a row. Reminds me of your little animal friends.” She touched a row of animal patches—cat, bird, bee, and lizard.
“Our Palismans,” Gus nodded. He gave a heavy sigh. “Guess I still have a lot to learn about the human realm.”
“You’re doing a great job, Gus. I think you’re taking to this place like a fish to water.”
His brow furrowed, shoulders slumping.
“Th-that’s a compliment!” Camila spluttered. “Fish to water. It means you fit in.”
Gus nodded. “Hey, Camila? Do you…think I’m a bad son?”
“What?” She pulled back, startled. “Mijo, how could you even think that?”
He shrugged one shoulder. “It’s just…I’m getting used to being here, you know? And it kinda…kinda….”
Her kids were going to break her heart.
Camila sighed and pushed another chair out from the table. “Sit with me for a minute, Gus?”
He complied, but still wouldn’t look at her. Camila rested her hands on the table, gathering her thoughts. She knew a little of her kids’ backgrounds—enough to know that Willow and Gus had a good relationship with their dads, that Amity had problems with her mother but missed her father (and her siblings even more), and that Hunter’s family really shouldn’t ever be mentioned unless he brought it up.
“I think your dad would be proud that you’re adjusting so well,” she finally said. “He probably knows you’d do anything to get back to him, and he’d be happy that you’ve found ways to grow and learn while you’re here.”
“I feel like I’m choosing this place over him,” Gus finally admitted. He looked up at her, tears in his eyes and voice tight with emotion. “Every time I find something, and-and I forget for a second that we’re trying to get home, I feel like I’m letting him down. I’m letting them all down because I’m choosing to be selfish instead of fixing the portal.”
“Oh, mijo, that’s not being selfish.” Camila reached across the table to take his hand. “That’s just being you. You can’t stop your brilliant mind from learning any more than you could stop the sun from rising. You need to nurture it and let it grow, and maybe that means knowing more about the place you’re in right now.”
He stared at her, eyes wide, and Camila was reminded of how much younger he was than the others. He was brilliant, and fascinated by the world around him, but still so very young.
“But I want to go home,” he whispered.
“And you will,” she promised, leaning close enough to wipe a tear from his cheek. “Say, did I ever tell you about that first time I talked to Luz? After I met Vee?”
Gus shook his head. He pulled his knees up and wrapped his arm around them, still holding Camila’s hand.
“She said she was glad she’d stayed in the demon realm, and I’ll admit I was heartbroken at first. But you know, then I started thinking. I started wondering what would make my brave, wonderful girl think she had to stay a whole world away from me. That maybe it was my fault, and I hadn’t been the best mother to her, you know?”
She waited for Gus to nod before continuing. “Then I realized that maybe she stayed because otherwise something worse would happen. Maybe someone would get hurt if she came home then. Maybe she stayed because she had to help someone who was still there and not because she wanted to be away from me.”
Gus fidgeted a little at her explanation. “Camila—”
“I don’t need to know,” she held up a hand to stop him. “My point is, I’m sure your father feels the same way. He knows you’d be home if you could, and you’d only choose to stay away if doing otherwise would hurt someone else. He’s probably happy knowing you’re here with the others so you can keep each other safe. You know what I mean?”
He slowly nodded, and Camila squeezed his hand before letting go. “And if he’s even half as proud of you as I am, then he’s very, very proud.”
Gus managed a tremulous smile, wiping a tear away with the heel of his hand. “Camila? Can I give you a hug?”
“Of course, mijo,” she said, opening her arms for the boy. “You never have to ask.”