The Academy had been expecting Solin.
What it had not been expecting was Barry.
Bettie stayed home.
She said she needed to prepare Solin's room for when he returned.
Nobody believed her.
Least of all me.
So Verity, Solin, and I stepped through the portal together.
We emerged directly onto the Academy grounds.
The alarm went off immediately.
Not a polite chime.
Not a warning tone.
A full-scale, reality-shaking WOOOOOOP!
Red lights appeared everywhere.
Students scattered.
Professors froze.
Security personnel materialized from doors, walls, corridors, and, in one memorable case, directly out of a decorative fountain.
Solin barely blinked.
He'd become accustomed to my entrances.
"You know," he said, "you could just use the front door."
"I could."
"You never do."
"Where's the fun in that?"
Security surrounded us.
Weapons came up.
Verity immediately stepped forward.
"Please remain calm."
One of the guards shouted, "Identify yourselves!"
I raised one hand.
"Barry."
Nothing happened.
Then I added:
"Relicwright."
The reaction was immediate.
Several weapons lowered.
Someone whispered.
Someone else said something that sounded suspiciously like a prayer.
Then a voice from somewhere behind the security line said:
"Stand down."
The security personnel hesitated.
"Stand down!"
The weapons disappeared.
The alarms stopped.
Silence fell across the courtyard.
I looked around.
"Touchy, ain't they?"
Solin covered his face.
"Dad."
"What?"
"You caused an interstellar security incident."
"I arrived."
"Through a dimensional breach."
"Technicality."
Verity sighed.
The professors arrived a few moments later.
They came in groups.
First the faculty.
Then senior instructors.
Then department heads.
Then people who clearly had no intention of admitting they were impressed by anything.
They were a rather testy lot.
One professor immediately began lecturing me about unauthorized dimensional entry.
Another objected to the security protocols.
A third wanted to know what kind of transportation technology I had used.
I answered none of them.
Then somebody said it.
Quietly.
Almost reverently.
"The Relicwright."
The courtyard went silent.
Every head turned.
I looked behind me.
"Who?"
Verity whispered, "You."
"Oh."
More people arrived.
Deans.
Directors.
Heads of departments.
Senior researchers.
And finally the President of the Academy.
I leaned toward Solin.
"Here come the Lord High Poobahs."
"I heard that."
"So did they."
The President approached.
"Mr. Nightwater."
Solin straightened.
"Yes, sir."
"You understand why we have asked you here?"
"To determine whether I belong here."
The President smiled.
"Precisely."
He turned toward me.
"And you must be his father."
"I get that a lot."
The President extended his hand.
I shook it.
"Barry."
"President Aurelius."
"Nice place."
"Thank you."
"Bit dramatic."
He smiled.
"It serves a purpose."
The discussion that followed was surprisingly civil.
They asked about Solin's abilities.
His resonance.
His stages.
His development.
His control.
His potential.
Eventually the President looked at Solin.
"We would be honored to accept you into the Academy."
Solin's eyes widened.
"Really?"
"Yes."
I looked at the faculty.
"And the cost?"
There was an awkward pause.
The Dean of Resonance cleared his throat.
"We have arrangements."
"Meaning?"
"The Academy will absorb the expense."
I blinked.
"You're paying?"
"Yes."
"All of it?"
"Yes."
I looked at Solin.
Then Verity.
Then back at the President.
"That's mighty generous."
"It is an investment."
"Uh-huh."
I waved my hand.
Several relics appeared in the air.
They floated there quietly.
Ancient objects.
Artifacts.
Things that had belonged in museums, temples, vaults, and places where museums would have been terrified to put them.
The professors stared.
One of them actually took a step backward.
Another whispered something in an alien language.
Then one professor stammered:
"You could buy a moon with that!"
I shrugged.
"Probably."
The President stared at me.
"Mr. Nightwater..."
"Barry."
"Barry."
He gestured toward the relics.
"What exactly are those?"
"Stuff."
"Stuff?"
"Relicwright stuff."
The President took a long breath.
"Regardless, in the future, Mr. Nightwater, we will require credits."
I nodded solemnly.
"Understood."
Solin looked at me.
"Do you know what credits are?"
"No."
Verity closed her eyes.
I smiled.
Fortunately, she volunteered to handle the administrative matters.
And the professors looked immensely relieved.
"Verity will take care of everything."
The Dean of Studies smiled.
"Excellent."
Verity smiled back.
"I have already downloaded the Academy's administrative protocols."
The smile disappeared from his face.
"All of them?"
"Yes."
"How long did that take?"
"Eight seconds."
I patted him on the shoulder.
"She's good."
The tour began.
The Academy was magnificent.
Great halls.
Training chambers.
Resonance laboratories.
Libraries that seemed to extend farther inside than the buildings could possibly contain.
Dormitories.
Observatories.
Gardens where plants from half a dozen worlds grew beneath artificial suns.
Solin was fascinated.
I was distracted.
Something was bothering me.
I couldn't put my finger on it.
The Academy was too clean.
Too organized.
Too perfect.
Everywhere we went, I felt that same faint vibration I'd noticed at home.
A resonance beneath the resonance.
Something almost imperceptible.
Verity noticed me staring.
"You are concerned."
"Yeah."
"About what?"
"I don't know yet."
She looked around.
"I have detected nothing unusual."
"That's what worries me."
Solin called from ahead.
"Dad!"
I looked up.
"Coming."
We finished the tour.
Verity handled enrollment.
Schedules.
Housing.
Credentials.
Whatever credits were.
I watched Solin.
He was excited.
Really excited.
And that made me happy.
And frightened me.
Because I knew what it meant.
He was growing up.
Eventually, we stepped back through the portal.
The house was quiet.
Bettie was waiting.
Solin ran to her.
"Mama!"
She wrapped her arms around him.
"How was it?"
"Wonderful!"
She smiled.
"Did you like it?"
"Yes!"
I watched her face.
She smiled harder.
"That's good."
That night we packed.
Clothes.
Books.
Personal items.
A few things Verity insisted he needed.
A few things I insisted he needed.
Solin kept talking about his classes.
His room.
The training halls.
The other students.
Bettie listened.
She folded his clothes carefully.
One shirt.
Then another.
Then another.
And finally she stopped.
She held one of his shirts against her chest.
Her shoulders began to shake.
Solin froze.
"Mama?"
"I'm fine."
She wasn't.
She tried to smile.
"I just..."
Her voice broke.
Solin walked over.
Bettie dropped to her knees and hugged him.
"I know you're supposed to go," she whispered.
"I know."
"I know you're going to be wonderful."
"I'll come home."
"I know."
She held him tighter.
"I know."
I stood in the doorway.
For once, I didn't have a joke.
Didn't have a relic.
Didn't have a clever solution.
There are some things even a Relicwright can't fix.
A mother watching her child leave.
I walked over and knelt beside them.
Bettie looked at me through her tears.
"He's growing up."
"Yeah."
"I don't like it."
"I know."
She leaned against me.
Solin wrapped an arm around both of us.
And for a while, we just stayed there.
No portals.
No aliens.
No Academy.
No cosmic destiny.
Just a family on the floor of a Florida house, holding on to each other for a little while longer.
Outside, the bayou whispered beneath the stars.
And somewhere far beyond it—
something listened.
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