Stealing Time

to peel him off, but he’s stuckfast. “And I’ll be bringing a playmate for you,” she saysbrightly.
This news surprises him enough that herelaxes his grip. I scoop him up and hold him close on my lap. Inod to Varya. Go now. She nods back.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can. I have to…explain some things to Zoe first.”
Varya hesitates for only a moment before sheturns and walks through the doorway. We hear a door open and close,more static as the portal opens again, and then she is gone.

Chapter nineteen
Marisa
“Dinner time!” Marisa called as she emerged from theportal. She’d started announcing her arrival after being greetedseveral times by a devastated Kir who had heard and smelled theportal open up with the expectation of his mother arriving. Hewould still come to greet Marisa—the bringer of food was also verymuch welcome in Kir’s small world—but no longer teared up due tomistaken identity.
Today she stood alone for several moments inthe hallway, holding a dinner plate in each hand, waiting for themeaty smell of his favourite burgers to bring Kir to her.Eventually she shrugged and walked the several paces to the kitchenand meals area alone.
Elena stood next to the table, staring downat the cutlery set for two, water glasses neatly aligned above theknives, ketchup bottle in the centre.
“Where’s Kir?” Marisa placed the platesgently down on the table in their allocated places.
Elena sat and raised her voice, “Kir! Dinnertime!” To Marisa she said, “He’s in his room.”
Marisa sat opposite Elena and waited. “Is heokay?”
Before Elena could answer, Kir appeared atthe doorway, paused, glared at them, then trudged to his seat andsat down heavily.
“It’s your favourite,” said Marisa, pushingthe plate a half-inch closer to him.
Kir sighed dramatically, propped his rightelbow on the table and rested his head on his upturned hand. “I’mnot hungry,” he declared, pushing the plate away and knocking thesauce bottle over.
Marisa caught it before it rolled off thetable. Elena slid the plate back towards Kir.
“You’ll get nothing else except sandwichesand cereal until tomorrow night, so make the best of it now,” saidElena.
Kir pouted and picked up a chip. After usingit to push several other chips around, he poked one end into hismouth and started to chew. With his free hand he stacked chips ontop of each other to form a small fort.
“They’ve taken another one,” said Marisa.She watched Elena slice a chunk off her own burger and put it inher mouth.
“They say it tastes the same as real meat,”said Elena, pushing the food into her cheek and grimacing. “But Iremember what real meat tastes like, and this is not it.”
Marisa tried again. “This one’s the kid of afriend of Varya’s.”
“Who took one?” asked Kir. “One what?”
“Kir, eat your food. Don’t interrupt whenadults are talking.” Elena’s tone held the authority of a bygoneera when children were expected to be seen and not heard. Kirhuffed softly and started to deconstruct his burger, carefullyremoving the lettuce and tomato and putting them on the side of hisplate before replacing the bun and biting into it.
“Daniel, yes?” said Elena.
“Yes. That’s two now,” said Marisa. “Ben andDaniel.” Her hands fidgeted and her jaw clenched.
“Are they sure it’s… them?” she asked, withhopeful doubt.
“The police don’t know. Daniel hasn’t beenreturned yet. But the other kid, Ben Williams… it was the sameM.O., so…”
“But not confirmed. Not the samepeople.”
“No,” said Marisa through clenched teeth.“They haven’t arrested anyone, but it’s pretty bloody obvious…”
“Nanna, Nanna! She did cursing!”
“Kir! Eat your dinner!” Elena shouted.
Kir shrank down into his seat, confused. Hisgrandmother never raised her voice at him. He sat silently, hishands in his lap. Seeming to remember his Nanna’s command, he pokedone small hand above the table, plucked a chip off the plate andslipped it into his mouth. He chewed slowly.
“It’s not our concern,” said Elena toMarisa.
“You think it’s just, what, a coincidence?The…” Marisa glanced at Kir. “The timing?”
“I think it’s a tragedy. But do I think… hewas involved? No, I don’t.”
“No, of course not…” Marisa paused, lookedat Kir again. “He would never do anything to hurt anyone, but…”
“But you think that by dredging up the past,we’ve somehow awoken a great demon who has started to terrorise thecity again.”
Marisa sighed. “I just…”
“You feel guilty.”
“Yeah, I guess I do.”
“Because you think that by helping me, it’ssomehow your fault. Even if you didn’t directly cause it, if youraction started a chain reaction of evil, you think that you mightbe to blame.”
Marisa nodded and exhaled slowly. “Yes.”
Elena put down her knife and fork andpressed her hands together, elbows on the table.
“We did what we believed was right, to helpa mother and her little boy. Nothing evil can possibly come out ofsuch a selfless act. If someone else has chosen to intervene inthat process and create evil, then that is their choice and theywill pay for it when the time comes and they have to answer to theLord Almighty.” She picked up her cutlery again and stabbed at thechips. “But, for what it’s worth, I don’t think it is related atall.”
Marisa tapped her fingers on the tablenoiselessly. Kir picked up his fork and stabbed at his own chips,missing and clattering against the plate more often than not.
“Did she tell you about the other kid? Whenshe spoke to you about Daniel this afternoon?”
Elena shook her head and swallowed. “Shetold me that Daniel is sick. I think she wanted me to infer that heis sick like Kir is sick. No more and no less.”
“And you didn’t question her.”
“No. I will do whatever I can to help mydaughter. At the moment, she is on the right course. So, I willbelieve what I am told to believe and leave the rest to her. Danielis sick, he needs to be cared for. That’s all I care to know.”
Marisa stood. “Fine, you stick your head inthe sand. I just hope this doesn’t all come back to bite you on thearse.”
“Nanna, Nanna, she…!” Kir was stopped by hisgrandmother’s raised hand. He wriggled in his seat, looking aboutfit to burst. “But! But!”
Marisa turned to Kir. “Kir, I am sorry forcursing.” To Elena she said,