“Just fight her,” he said. “You’re strong. You can fight her.”

“I don’t know if I can, Jupe. And I won’t risk putting you and your dad in danger.”

“Please don’t leave me,” he begged in a rough voice. “Please. Don’t leave me like she did.”

My heart broke into a thousand pieces. “It’s not because I don’t care. I’m leaving to protect you.” I wanted to assure him I’d be coming back—that I could pop down to Florida for a week, pop back up, problem fixed. But I couldn’t lie to him. Not after I’d just broken down and told him the truth about my parents.

He stared at me for a moment, eyes glossy and pained. Then he blurted, “He bought you an engagement ring.”

My body stilled. “What?” I whispered.

“That was the secret I told Kar Yee. That’s the reason Gramma accepted you. Because Dad’s going to marry you and we’re going to be a family and you can’t leave. You can’t leave us.”

Tears spilled down my cheeks. “Jupe.”

“You’re still going to leave, knowing that? How could you?”

“I—”

“I won’t let you!” He gritted his teeth. His pupils flicked back and forth like a pendulum.

He was using his persuasion knack.

“You won’t leave us. You’ll stay here. You won’t leave!”

I turned my head away, an instinctual reaction, as if that could deflect his knack. He’d never used it on me. I wasn’t sure how it would feel. But I knew it had to feel like something more than this . . . this nothingness. I looked up at him. It didn’t work. I could see it on his face, the way it fell.

And then it hit me. He’d tried to use it on Lon. On Yvonne. On me.

Dr. Spendlove, Jupe’s Earthbound psychiatrist, had told Lon that most knacks like Jupe’s have a restriction, he just wasn’t sure yet what it was.

I was pretty sure we’d just uncovered it.

“Oh, Jupe,” I said. “Your knack doesn’t work on people you care about.”

He made an anguished noise in the back of his throat.

“I’m so sorry.” I reached out to touch him.

His face twisted as he bellowed a loud, incoherent growl. He was confused and frustrated and hurt. So was I. And I didn’t know how to make it any better for either one of us.

He lunged and shoved me, hard. Shock ripped through me as I stumbled backward. Before I could recover, he was racing across the driveway.

“Jupe!” I called out.

But he didn’t listen. He just ran as fast as he could toward the house. The slamming front door sounded like a small explosion.

I fell apart, crouching at the base of the cypress tree. I didn’t think I could hurt any more than I did at that moment

Jupe needed some time to cool down. And he and Lon had to escort the Giovannis to the airport. When they were done, Lon and I had agreed to sit down and sort out a plan for Dare . . . a plan for Florida. And though I was too shocked to process it, I’d eventually have to tell him I knew about the engagement ring.

Right now, I was concerned about Kar Yee. I needed to make her understand, to tell her how sorry I was. So I headed to Tambuku.

On the drive into Morella, I kept an eye out for Dare’s black cars while my brain juggled its crowded contents, struggling to prioritize all my worries. Telly’s body. Dare. My mother. My serpentine form. Priya’s warnings.

Jupe. Lon.

An engagement ring.

I banged my fists on the steering wheel, screaming at nobody, nearly running off the road. I sobbed. Screamed some more. By some miracle I reined myself in enough to avoid dying in a fiery wreck.

Half an hour later, I skidded into a parking space in front of Tambuku. Our block was mostly quiet. Other businesses were open, but it was a quarter past four: not primetime for the restaurants and bars that outnumbered the other storefronts on this street. I didn’t see Kar Yee’s car, but she probably parked in the garage.

As the last trails of sunlight stretched over the sidewalk, I headed down Tambuku’s front steps. The door was locked. No surprise. We usually locked it when we weren’t open, even if someone was inside working.

“Kar Yee?” I called out. No lights. I flipped on the fishing float pendants over the bar and surveyed the room. The barstools, high-top tables, and chairs had been stacked against the wall in preparation for the paint-covered binding triangles to be redone. I called out her name again. No answer. I started to head back to the office; halfway there, I swung around to retrace my steps and lock the front door.

Someone was already opening it.

Shiny bald head. Glasses. Green halo. Expensive suit. Minion at his side.

Dare.

“Miss Bell,” he said. “So good to see you again.”

It took me several moments to find my voice. “I doubt that.”

“I was in the neighborhood.”

“Bet you were. You’ve been following me a lot, lately. I’m flattered you find my comings and goings so damn fascinating.”

“You’re always fascinating, my dear. Just concerned over your safety.”

“If you’re concerned as you were about Evan’s kid, Telly, then please don’t bother.”

“Ah, well. That was unfortunate.” He slipped his hands inside his pants pockets. “Frankly, I’m surprised you aren’t thanking me. He did rob this bar, did he not?”