Five Portraits by Piers Anthony

saying that you have some kind of magic awareness when you’re touching each other?” Astrid asked.
    â€œYes,” Firenze said. “And we don’t want to be separated.”
    â€œWe’re all from the future,” Santo said. “It’s a bond.”
    That was indeed the single thing they shared: they were all orphans from the virtual future. Astrid didn’t know why that should give them any special awareness, but if the idea of it was a bond for them, it was to be encouraged. “I’m glad you are all getting along with each other. You didn’t know each other before we collected you, did you?”
    â€œNo,” Win said. “We were windblown strangers.”
    â€œBut when we traveled through time, then we felt it,” Myst said.
    â€œSo are you saying it’s wrong to go to our camp?” Astrid asked.
    â€œNot exactly,” Squid said.
    â€œBut there’s something we need to do first,” Firenze said.
    â€œAnd what is that?”
    â€œWe don’t know,” Santo said.
    Astrid suppressed her frustration. She wanted to get along well with these children and already knew it would not be easy. Children were more complicated than she had anticipated. “Do you have a hint?”
    â€œWe—we need to be sure we can always get together,” Win said.
    â€œEven if we’re apart,” Myst said.
    â€œBut when we find good homes for you, you will no longer be together,” Astrid said.
    â€œThat’s why we need a way,” Squid said.
    This required some finessing. “Why don’t you get together and orient on that way?” Astrid suggested.
    â€œOkay,” Firenze said. It didn’t seem to matter which one spoke; they seemed to have a common thought.
    The children clustered together, forming a hand-holding circle.
    â€œThere are many,” Myst said.
    â€œWe’ll get the closest one,” Squid said.
    â€œThat way,” Santo said, pointing.
    â€œBut that’s all tangled thorns,” Win protested.
    â€œI’ll make a hole.” Santo pointed, and a hole appeared. It was a big one, a veritable tunnel through the brush. Astrid was impressed; that was one versatile talent.
    The children walked through the tunnel, and Astrid and Fornax followed. “This is not what I thought it would be,” the Demoness murmured.
    â€œNor I,” Astrid agreed. “It seems dealing with children is a challenge. Maybe that’s what Wenda meant: by the time we learn to take proper care of the children, we’ll have a lot of mutual experience and be friends.”
    â€œThat seems reasonable.”
    â€œIs it tying you up when you have other things to do? I can stay with the children.”
    â€œThen it would not become a joint experience.”
    â€œOh, that’s right,” Astrid agreed, chagrined. “I did not mean to be a burden to you.”
    â€œUnderstand this about Demons,” Fornax said. “We can be in many places at the same time, and do many things at once. I am currently supervising Kandy’s negotiation on the terms of the Demon Wager, and I am reviewing the upkeep of my palace in Galaxy Fornax, and fending off the amorous advances of Demon Nemesis, and doing countless other chores while being here with you. You are incapable of monopolizing my attention. When I seem to leave you, this is to allow you some respite, not because I need any myself.”
    â€œI’m sorry. I keep forgetting that you are a Demon. I’m thinking of you as a friend.”
    â€œExactly. That is the point of our association. Already I feel less lonely because of the warmth of your attention.”
    Astrid was becoming embarrassed, so she changed the subject. “Demon Nemesis?”
    â€œHe associates with Dark Matter, that the rest of us can’t perceive directly. His local planet is a brown dwarf circling the sun far out, that others have had difficulty locating. He,