***

“Stupid. How stupid could you be?” An angry feminine voice greeted her ears.

Mina opened her eyes and saw a dark head of short hair blur in and out of focus. When she tried to look beyond the shadowy form, she saw the faint outline of the familiar fireplace and bookshelves of her front living room. She was stretched out on the sofa, covered with an old woven blanket.

The girl studied her. Her short black hair with purple highlights looked even darker in the light. But the tone, the snarky tone of voice, was all Ever.

“Dumb. That’s what you are,” Ever snapped.

“Who? Brody?” Mina asked, for once close to agreeing with the pixie.

“Oh no. I’m not mad at him.” She thrust her thumb in his direction. “He’s tolerable. He actually did something smart. Kept you from doing something stupid by running after the omen and suffering the same fate as your mother. You, on the other hand, are foolish. You went back to the Guild? How stupid can you get? The final blast of exploding Fae power probably attracted a whole bunch of evil Fae. They could be sniffing out errant bits of magic hoping to scrape it up, and then you go and get spotted by an omen. I can’t leave you alone for a few hours.” Her hands waved in the air, and she started to speak in pixie. It was impossible to follow along, but Mina just assumed she had run out of human names to call her and had to berate her in her own language.

Mina sighed and dropped her head back onto the cushion. She let Ever’s anger roll off her, ignoring it easily.

Brody sat in a high-back chair nearby, head in his hands and elbows resting on his knees. His hands rubbed his face. He looked consumed in guilt.

Charlie sat on a rug, his arms wrapped around his knees as he rocked himself, staring off into the distance. This wasn’t good. How was she going to keep him safe?

Then Mina remembered what her mom had done. She shoved the hurt away and hid it behind her anger. She didn’t have time to mourn her mother’s death when she had her brother to look after. How could their mom do this to them? How could she abandon them so easily?

She sat up and flung the blanket off of her lap and walked over to Charlie. Kneeling beside him, she wrapped her arms round him. “I’m so sorry Charlie.”

Her brother hugged her back, his shoulders shaking in silent sobs. “M-Mom,” he gushed out.

She couldn’t help but cry tears of relief. Her brother was speaking, and the sound of his young, unsure, and unused voice was the one glorious spot in her grim future.

“I know, sweetie. I know.” She rocked him.

“Mina,” Charlie whispered.

It unlocked something insider her. And then, with Charlie, she let the tears and grief overtake her. Their pain and grief poured out in loud, uncontrollable sobs.

When Charlie finally cried himself to sleep, Mina whispered, “I’ll protect you, Charlie. I promise.”

Brody came over and helped lift him onto the couch that she’d vacated. Mina pulled the blanket up to his chin, and her hands accidentally brushed his cheek. It was hot. She touched his forehead. Charlie was burning up.

She grabbed a digital thermometer from the bathroom. His reading was 101 degrees. She got a wet washcloth and put it over his forehead and searched for some liquid fever reducer to give him.

“Mina, can I talk to you?” Brody spoke softly over Charlie’s sleeping form.

She didn’t want to even look at him. He was the reason her mom was gone. He barely knew her mother, yet he listened to her mom instead of her. How could she trust him?

“I’d rather not,” she said stiffly.

Brody’s hands fisted, and he took a deep breath, about to say something, when they heard a knock.

All three of them turned to the door. Ever’s wings started to flutter, and she hovered off of the ground. Brody reached for the fire poker, and Mina walked quietly to the window and pulled the curtain aside to see Nan’s Volkswagen Beetle parked out front. They hadn’t even heard it pull up.

Mina opened the door, and her best friend rushed in the door. Her blonde hair hung plaited in one long messy braid, and she wore a sparkly headband over her forehead. Her cheeks were flushed with worry as she rushed inside.

“Mina, you won’t believe what I found…” Nan trailed off when she took a long look at her friend’s swollen and red-rimmed eyes. “What happened? Are you okay? Is Charlie okay?”

Mina nodded her head. “Yeah, we’re fine. But my mom’s gone.”

“What?” Nan snapped and rushed into the living room and was greeted by Brody’s somber face as he stood with Ever. “How?”

Mina didn’t want to relay the tale. She looked to Ever, who pulled Nan to the side and told her in hushed tones. Mina stayed near the front door. As she closed it, something rushed inside and scurried up her pant leg.

“Whoa!” She screamed and fell backward, thinking the omen had returned.

The thing scrambled up and out her collar, and her hands flew up to guard her. But she wasn’t being devoured by the invisible beast. She was being nuzzled.

A second later, Anders, the Baldander, appeared as a large brown squirrel.

“Anders?” Mina let out a relieved laugh.

Nan came back to the front room and kneeled beside her. “Yeah, he showed up at my condo this morning, a little burned, but he was okay. He wouldn’t stop morphing until I promised to bring him to you. “It’s like he knew something bad was coming.”

Mina sat on the floor with Anders cuddled up in her lap. He seemed content and unwilling to move.

“I know that a lot has happened. I can’t even imagine how it feels to lose your mother, but—” Nan spoke softly.

“Nan, not now.” Mina tried to stop the lecture that was sure to come.

“If not now, then when? When your brother is killed as well?” Nan’s eyes burned with indignation and unshed tears. “Ever told me Charlie spoke. Mina, you saw what happened with the Godmothers’ Guild. I just want you to know that—when you’re ready, you’re not alone. We’re in this together.”

“I don’t think I can involve you anymore. The cost is too high.”

“That’s bull! And you know it. This isn’t about you versus the almighty Teague. This is about us protecting ourselves from a greater evil. So grieve, sort of quickly, and then pull yourself together and fight back.”

Mina nodded and hugged her friend. “We will. I will. Thank you.”

A second knock on the door had all of them turning and looking at the door in distrust.

“Were you expecting anyone else?”

“No.” Mina shuffled her legs, and Ander scurried off of her lap and onto the floor as she slowly stood up. She reached for the doorknob and was about to open it when Nan hissed, “Stop! What if it’s Teague?”

“He wouldn’t knock,” Ever said. “It’s not his style. He’d just blast the door in or appear in the room.”

Brody positioned himself next to the front door with a baseball bat he’d pulled from the hall closet, and he gave Mina a nod of encouragement. He twisted his hands around the grip, hefted it over his shoulder, and waited. Without questioning her, he was once again stepping in to protect them all.

Mina let out a sigh of worry and concentrated on the door, trying to let her senses feel beyond it. She didn’t feel the onslaught of Fae power that she got when Teague was near, but she did feel a tingle of something or someone Fae.