“He killed my mother,” I responded in a hoarse voice, but the barghest ignored me. And that’s when I felt something snap inside me. Fury ignited in my soul like a puddle of gasoline flaming to life.

“You cannot deny me this, Anyan,” I raged at the barghest’s retreating form. I moved to confront him when Ryu’s voice came from behind me.

“Jane, Anyan’s right. Your coming is a bad idea.”

I ignored Ryu. I wasn’t talking to him, yet.

“You know I have to do this,” I demanded, spearing Anyan with my gaze.

The barghest shook his shaggy head. “Which is exactly why you’re not coming, woman. You’re furious and this isn’t a vengeance quest. This is bigger than any of us, and I’m not going to waste time chasing after you chasing shadows.”

“Anyan, I swear to the gods that if you treat me like a fucking child I am going to take that saddlebag and shove it up your…”

From behind me, my rant was interrupted by an unwelcome hand on my shoulder.

“Jane, listen to me, I know you’re upset…”

Suddenly, it was as if something broke and all the feelings of shame, hurt, and anger that had been roiling around impotently inside me for the past two months lashed out. I was so tired of playing these games; so tired of being underestimated, and overlooked, and manipulated. What happened in Boston had changed me, and although I still looked like mild-mannered Jane True, the selkie-halfling, backing up my comfortable little body was a whole fuckload of thuggishly brutal elemental force and pure, un-Jane-like venom.

Still in control enough that I didn’t actually hurt him, I allowed my power to flatten Ryu. One minute he was standing behind me, hand on my shoulder, and the next he was sprawled on the ground. I let my force sit on his chest like a lolling mastiff, effectively pinning him and keeping him quiet at the same time.

Anyan’s eyes widened, staring behind me to where Ryu lay prostrate. Before the barghest could snap up his own powerful shields, I was on him.

I surrounded Anyan with a ball of my own energy, keeping him open, exposed, and vulnerable. I narrowed my power into a rough imitation of two fingers that poked him squarely in the chest. The big man grunted, taking a small step backward.

“Now you listen to me, dog breath. I am not a child. I am not weak.”

To emphasize my point, I gave him another hard jab to the sternum. He took another startled step back.

“I know when to stay out of shit, and I know I’ve been weak in the past. But I’m not that girl any longer.” One more poke and Anyan gave more ground.

“You have two choices. You say this isn’t personal; I say that’s bullshit. So either you take me with you on your official investigation or I’ll come anyway. You can’t keep me from following you.” I shoved him again, much harder than before, hard enough to make him stagger. I stalked toward him, using my power to punctuate my points.

“You can’t keep me from being one step behind you, the entire way.”

Shove.

“You can’t stop me from going into the Borderlands and meeting these contacts of yours.”

Shove.

“You aren’t my father.” Shove. “You don’t control me.” Shove. “You don’t tell me what to do.” Shove. “I’m strong now, and you can’t stop me from coming with you.”

With those words, I let the wodge of power that I used to hold down Ryu spread out, pressing him harder into the earth. I knew the baobhan sith wasn’t the issue, however; the one who stood between me and my goal was standing in front of me. But not for long.

“I’m coming with you, Anyan,” I said as I pulled a Gladiator and unleashed hell.

I let my Atlantic’s power manifest itself forward, blasting out of me to lift the barghest off his feet. It took him up, up, and then flipped him over onto his back. Anyan hung there, in midair, for a split second. And then I drilled him back down into the earth. Feeling him call to his element, I knew the ground helped to cushion him from the brunt of the impact. But he still landed hard enough to create an Anyan-shaped crater. He lay spread-eagled, the wind undoubtedly knocked out of him. When he didn’t breathe for a long handful of seconds, I began to worry. But finally the barghest exhaled with a whoosh, and I saw the big man blink a few times. Probably clearing the stars from his eyes.

I reined my power back in, stepping to the side so I could keep both men in my line of sight as I released them. Ryu was up first.

He stared at me like I’d grown a handlebar mustache. I resisted the temptation to flick him off.

I was just about to snap at the vampire to close his mouth and stop gaping when I heard a bruised-sounding wheeze emit from Anyan’s prone form.

He sat up slowly and carefully. For a second, I thought he was gasping for breath before I realized he was actually… chuckling? Was he laughing at me?

Anyan leaned back on his hands, letting his head fall back as his slightly breathless chuckles became full-on guffaws.

I frowned, unable to figure out why he was laughing. If it was because he thought I was joking, I’d happily expand the Anyan-crater he was currently lying in by pile-driving him once more…

But when his laughter finally slowed a bit, and his eyes met mine, he wasn’t angry. Nor was he mocking me. He glowed with pride, and he was smiling like I’d just brought home a trophy.

“Dear gods, Jane, I’ve been waiting for you to do something like that.” Laughter bubbled up in him again as he carefully lay back down.

“Fuck, that hurt.” The barghest groaned as he gathered power from the earth to heal himself. “But it was worth it to see your mettle. And Ryu…” Anyan chortled again, enjoying his joke. “I thought Ryu was going to piss himself.”

Ryu’s face was still slack, so shocked by my aggression that he didn’t even blink when the barghest needled him. Normally Ryu would have flipped.

Anyan stood slowly, stretching his big frame as if to make sure everything still worked.

“I knew you’d be strong,” he said, finally growing serious, although his eyes still twinkled. “I figured you’d be stronger than me. But you beat all my expectations. And I’m glad, Jane. I hated seeing you vulnerable.”

I blushed, looking down. Why was he being nice? If he was trying to butter me up only to tell me to stay home, I’d give him a buttering…

“And you’ve made it clear that we can’t stand in your way, if you really want to come.”

My eyes met his, which were suddenly fierce and hard.

“But if you do this, Jane, you know the drill. You have to follow my orders. I’m in charge of this little outfit, and I grant no quarter. If you’re with me, you do what I say. And just because you’re strong doesn’t mean you’re invulnerable. I know Nell has given you good defensive training, because I told her to. And as you’ve just illustrated, you can muscle your way around. But you’re not trained offensively, nor have you any finesse. So if I say you stay behind on a particular mission, you stay behind. It won’t be because you’re weak,” he said before I could protest. “It’ll be because I’m your general and you’re my soldier, my weapon. I deploy you where I think you can do the most damage. Or I hold you back so I don’t lose you before the next fight. Do you understand me?”

I wrinkled my nose at him. “You don’t actually want me to call you ‘General,’ do you? ’Cause that’s creepy.”

“Jane.”

“Fine. I’m in. What you say goes. General.”

He shook his head at me. “Don’t make me regret this by getting yourself killed. I told Nell to make you strong, and you both succeeded. Now don’t fuck it up. We leave in an hour.”

Anyan walked off, leaving me to watch his retreating backside. I was stunned. And more than a little appreciative of the view…

I heard a throat clearing behind me. I turned around.

It’s like he’s never seen me before, I realized. Strangely enough, the thought made me smile. I also noticed, for the first time, that Julian was watching us from the back porch. He had a way of blending in with the background that wasn’t magical, as I would have felt the glamour, but was equally effective. For despite the fact I’d been unaware of his presence, there stood my fellow halfling, his whole body somehow exuding excitement and amusement, even though he wasn’t smiling or anything. Julian did love it when I stuck it to the Man.

So he was certain to love this…

“Ryu Baobhan Sith,” I said, smiling at my former lover sweetly, drawing out my next words, caressing them with my tongue and lips. “Meet Jane True.”

Then I used my mojo to wallop Ryu back to the ground with one more healthy blast of my Atlantic’s power. He came up spluttering as I swished off in the direction of my house, sighing happily. Julian gave me a furtive low-five as I walked past him, and I could tell he was trying very, very hard not to laugh at his boss. Ryu probably hadn’t strictly deserved that last wallop, but, I have to admit, showing off my magical muscles—both to him and to Anyan—had felt so good, on so many levels.