"I wouldn't know, my folks don't have any real silver."

"Reasonable. Anyway, are there any other pressing questions you'd like answered or things you'd like to discuss?"

"What should I do if the Capris, uh, escalate, is there a way to - 911 you guys -"

"I'll give you my phone number, and plenty of other numbers in the family in case I don't pick up. And I'll set things up to cast a warding ritual but it'll be a few days before I'm ready; one of the disadvantages to ritual magic is that most useful things are hard to manage on short notice. Actually, that's another logistical question that I should get your input on: how do you feel about being warded in a way that lets me know where you are at all times? The upside is that I can come and get you immediately anytime you're in trouble, and the downside is that I know where you are at all times even if you might not like me to. Ideally I can solve the whole problem by quietly talking to the Capris and you'll never need any emergency preparations, but of course it's never a good idea to decide you won't need emergency preparations because everything is going to go ideally."

"I think it's fine if you know where I am? It might be weird if you also knew what I was doing or thinking or something but where I am is gonna be, like, school, church, here, maybe the milkshake place if that's safe."

She nods. "I'll prepare the ritual accordingly, then. The one I have for my daughters tells me if they're terrified or badly hurt or there's magic being done to them that they didn't allow; does that sound like a reasonable set of emergency conditions to you?"

"Yeah, that sounds about right to me."

Acknowledging nod. "Then that's settled."

"How long will this take, should I be telling school I'm sick next week?"

"I can have the ritual ready by... let's say Monday evening, if I get my family to help set it up. So you'll miss one day of school, if you don't want to trust the Capris to back off merely because I told them to, and I think you would be very reasonable not to trust them on that."

"Yay, three day weekend."

She cracks a smile. "Your very own snow day."

"I guess I could tell them I have crippling morning sickness if I'm going to be pregnant long enough for that to be unavoidably public anyway but it sounds like I won't be because. Egg. Is the egg going to need like, heat lamps, do I have to sit on it -"

"I will learn everything you need to know about egg care before it becomes a problem," Ishtar promises.

"Thank you. I will say I think I have a stomach bug and then this can be retroactively explained if I'm ever showing, at school, or if the Capris tell everyone, or whatever."

"Good plan," she says approvingly.

She writes "tell school I have a stomach bug" in her planner for Monday morning. Sighs. "And I guess I should call my parents, like, kind of now?"

"Go right ahead. Would you rather I step out to give you some privacy, or stay in case you need to ask or tell me something?"

"They'll probably wanna talk to you if we're going with the 'you gave me a job' story."

"Reasonable of them. I think it'll be fine to tell them that we don't have all the details worked out yet, since in fact we don't, but that I plan to pay you reasonable amounts for whatever household chores or other miscellaneous tasks I can come up with because I'm sympathetic to your situation, which as it happens is also true."

Nod nod. "Uh, do you have a phone, my parents cancelled my plan when they found out I was pregnant."

"...you can use the landline for now and I'll see if I can get you on my family's plan by Monday." She indicates a wireless phone sitting in its cradle on a side table. "Do you still have the phone itself with you or do you need a new one?"

"It's in my bag. It'll still play most of the games and take photos without cell access."

"Well, that simplifies things a little. Anyway, for now the house phone will do."

So Rebecca goes and dials her house. It rings a few times and then someone picks up.

"Hey John, it's -"

"No, I'm - okay - ish -"

"Yeah. Or Dad, whichever."

"Hi Mom."

"I'm at a classmate's house? Rosy Blake? No she's not a stranger we had science together the other year. Um, Mrs. Blake heard about stuff, and like, I want to be working on being more independent, because of -"

"No, Dad."

"No! It's my baby and I don't want Nicky or his creepy parents to have it!"

"Anyway I think they might be lying and want to make me have an abortion! They could slip a pill in my food or something if I lived with them."

"I know that's not what they said, would you have gone along with the idea if they said?"

"Anyway -"

"ANYWAY, Dad, Mrs. Blake gave me, like, a job, and I'm going to stay with her and work and do school and try to get ready to be a mom and get some space to figure out what that is going to look like since it is not going to look like playing house with Nicky damn Capri!"

"Yes you can she's right here."

She hands the phone to Mrs. Blake.