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She knew she couldn't keep the kid trapped inside her makeshift little hole in the ground forever. She'd just... hoped he would turn out more like her and just not want to leave. And then she'd never have to worry about the... plague, or whatever, getting him, or him falling off a cliff into the ocean, or getting carried off by an eagle. But that had always just been wistful thinking. Of course he wouldn't turn out like her. He was actually normal.

Just please be careful, she told him for the billionth time that morning as she watched him rocket past her legs out into the clearing. Stay away from any running water, don't play too close to any cliffs, and don't wander too far away!

Her words fell on deaf ears. The kid wasn't paying the least bit of attention to her, not with the big, wide world at his fingertips.

She didn't know how Cupid had managed with all six of them.

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