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that Ellen hadn’t translated her affinity with air into anything worth showing off, but allowed that he might be able to help her out once they began training in earnest. He lamented Zoe’s absence again, disappointed that he couldn’t witness another display of her power over trees and earth, and when Rocky joined them, determined not to be overlooked, Erasmus encouraged him.
    Rocky’s most basic talents involved punching things and turning into a big lump of rock with eyes.
    When his evaluation was complete Penny thought he looked hopeful, though it was hard to read his mood when she couldn’t see his eyes. His dark glasses of the day before were gone, and he was currently sporting a pair of welder’s goggles and a tall, tasseled maroon fez in place of the black top hat. The same well-traveled black duster hung from his squat frame, and he seemed quite comfortable despite the day’s building heat.
    “And how long have you been training?”
    Penny took a moment to consider the adventures and terrors she’d experienced since moving to Dogwood and had to smile. Sometimes it felt like she’d been fighting for years.
    “Just over a year,” Penny said.
    “Just under a year,” Katie said.
    “A few months,” Ellen said, then shrugged. “I got a late start.”
    “Not unimpressive,” Erasmus allowed. “Of course with proper training and supervision…”
    “No ripping on Ronan,” Penny said, and the briskness in her voice turned Erasmus’s head. “He’s a busy… whatever he is, and…” Penny floundered, not sure how to qualify.
    “And we’re a handful,” Katie finished.
    “So I’ve heard,” Erasmus said. His fez shifted slightly to one side as one of his long dreadlocks slipped free to scratch the side of his neck.
    Ellen stepped closer to Katie and nudged her hard in the ribs, then nodded surreptitiously toward the strange little man.
    Katie jumped in surprise, caught Ellen’s eye, then gave a little nod.
    Penny watched the exchange with some interest.
    “So… uh… who are you?” Katie injected as much sweetness into her voice as Penny had ever heard from her. “Ronan seems to like you, but he’s crazy and we don’t know you.”
    Penny laughed. She couldn’t help herself.
    Erasmus rocked back on his stool and almost overbalanced, then steadied himself and slid off. He planted his cane in the dirt and leaned over it toward the girls.
    “Fair enough,” Erasmus said. “You have questions, then ask them.”
    For a long and uncomfortable moment all three girls were silent. Penny for one was not used to being given full disclosure, Ronan was always stingy with information, and she was momentarily stumped. She had a hundred questions and didn’t know which to ask first.
    “Are you really blind?” Ellen asked, uncharacteristically bold. “I know what a white cane and dark glasses mean, but you don’t fight like you’re blind.”
    Erasmus chuckled.
    “I see more than any of you.” He pointed at Ellen first, then Katie and Penny. “You are my eyes, and you, and you.”
    He hooked a thumb back over his shoulder toward Rocky, who was waste deep in Clear Creek and apparently trying to catch a fish with his over-large hands. “And him.”
    Erasmus pursed his lips and gave a high-pitched chirp, an amazing bird imitation, and held a hand up over his head, his index finger extended. An answering chirp sounded down from the braided canopy of willow whips, and a robin flapped down and landed on his finger.
    “Even this little fellow.”
    “What are you taking about?” Some of the sweetness was wearing off of Katie’s voice. “You promised answers, not metaphors.”
    “And I gave you an answer,” Erasmus barked back, startling the robin into flight. “I see the world around me through the eyes of other living creatures, the more complex the creature, the more complex the picture.”
    Penny had a whole range of questions lined up not regarding his eyesight, but they were temporarily