Oracle's Moon by Thea Harrison Page B

found Chloe on her hands and knees. A plastic gallon milk container lay on its side on the floor, in a lake of white liquid. The lid had been removed, and the container was nearly empty. It had been almost full at supper the evening before. Sodden paper towels lay in heaps everywhere.
    Grace stopped in her tracks so suddenly Khalil ran into her. He grabbed her shoulders to steady her.
    “Oh, Chloe,” Grace said. “That was our only gallon of milk.”
    Chloe looked up, wide-eyed. “I didn’t do it. I found it this way!”
    Max turned around in his seat. He was sucking on one of the Lala Whoopsie doll’s feet.
    Khalil muttered something under his breath in what sounded like an alien language. He said aloud, “I only left them for a few minutes.”
    “I will clean up the floor, honey,” said Grace in a strangled voice. “And then I will make you those pancakes I promised. I swear it. Just please, pretty please with sugar sprinkled on top—please let me have a cup of coffee first.”

 
    “N o,” said Khalil.
    He surprised himself. He hadn’t meant to speak, but he looked from Chloe, who was trying not to cry, to Max in his high chair. The baby wore a worried, confused expression. Clearly Max knew something was wrong. Khalil still gripped Grace’s slender shoulders. He could feel her muscles quivering, and somehow the word just fell out of his mouth.
    He released her as she turned, and all three of them, Chloe, Max and Grace, stared at him. He said to Grace telepathically, You asked me to stay with the children, and I didn’t. This is mine to address.
    She looked at him gravely. He noticed again the rich flecks of azure, jade and honey brown in her eyes, and for the first time, he realized with surprise that she was actually beautiful.
    The fear she had shown outside still shadowed her gaze. He added, more gently, We will talk of what happened at a later time when the children are not around. Yes?
    She nodded hesitantly. All right.
    For now, sit , he said. Take time to recover.
    She did not protest, and he thought it was a measure of how the vision had shaken her. He looked at Chloe. “Come over to the table. Sit with your aunt. I will clear away this mess and…I will achieve pancakes.”
    Grace’s lovely, tired face wobbled with what looked suspiciously like mirth, but she had been under so much stress he decided his first impression could not be correct. “You’ll achieve pancakes?”
    “I do not see why not,” he said.
    “Have you ever achieved them before?” she asked. A touch of liveliness came back into her vivid eyes, and they sparkled.
    “That question is irrelevant,” he told her, while his eyes narrowed in suspicion on her tired face. On a Djinn, her expression would definitely be laughter. “I will achieve pancakes now.”
    Grace turned to Chloe. “I’m the one who made the promise. Is it all right with you if Khalil cooks pancakes instead of me?”
    “Uh-huh,” Chloe said. She hopped to her feet and splashed through the milk puddle to reach Grace. Liquid soaked the hem of her nightgown.
    “You are both getting another bath after breakfast,” Grace said. She picked up Chloe and set her in her booster seat then tiptoed around the milk to pour a cup of coffee.
    “I never said I was going to cook,” Khalil corrected.
    Two sets of dismayed female eyes turned to him. He was at a loss to pick which of them looked more betrayed, and he had to bite back his own smile. He told the youngest female, “Do not jump to hasty conclusions. Just watch. You will get your pancakes. I have said it.”
    He was unsure whether the little girl understood either “hasty” or “conclusion,” but she seemed to get the gist of what he had said, for she smiled and looked eager. Grace looked much more skeptical. Out of the corner of his eye, Khalil watched as she quickly prepared a bowl of something that looked sticky and white, like porridge. The baby began to bounce in his high chair and squeal. Grace took