“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.
She opened the door to reveal a distraught Terry Goodmother on the other side. Dressed in head-to-toe white, she rushed into the foyer. Her white hair looked disheveled, and black streaks of mascara ran down her face. Mina quickly waved for Brody to lower his weapon.
“Oh my darling, Mina. I’m so sorry.” The elderly woman, who was both her mother’s boss at Happy Maids and her Godmother, came into the room and wrapped her chubby arms around Mina. Terry’s shoulders wouldn’t stop shaking as she started to cry big, heaving sobs, which only set Mina off on another round of her own.
“I knew as soon as it happened.” She held up her heavy ringed hand, and the sparkle of her diamonds almost blinded Mina as she placed her hand over her heart. “I felt it here, and it hurts so much. What happened?”
“An omen came for me. Mom saved us all by sacrificing herself,” Mina said as calmly as she could.
“She always was one of the most selfless individuals I’ve known. Which is why I’ve been trying to keep her from doing what she just did. By failing your mother, I’ve failed you. I’m so sorry.”
“You’ve been the one adding the charms to her bracelet,” Mina stated.
Terry nodded. “Yes, I’m also the one who’s made her just fearful enough to run with you and hide from the Fae. Otherwise, she would have sacrificed herself long ago to fight the curse upon you. I couldn’t let her leave the two of you orphaned. I added another one after the attacks on the Guild.”
“You made her fearful?” Mina said in disbelief.