“Don’t forget to remind them about the police helicopters,” David growled from his place by the door. Allie was just barely coping with having him that far inside the room. With only Auntie Gwen about, and her distracted, David’s presence just added to the heat in her blood. “They’ve got to make sure the weather’s bad enough to ground them.”
“Good thing it’s already raining,” Auntie Gwen muttered. She glanced between Allie and her brother, gestured Katie and Roland into the space between them, kissed Joe—who to his credit kissed her back in spite of the audience—grabbed the keys off Michael’s palm, and ran.
Joe flushed under the scrutiny, and while his hands were shoved deep into his pockets, his shoulders were square and his chin was up.
If it worked for him, it worked for Allie.
She shrugged back into Graham’s jacket, wanting as much of him near her as possible. “This also stays here,” she added, fishing the bullet from the front pocket. “Just to be on the safe side.” The bullet rolled along the table until Katie put out a finger just before it rolled out of reach and stopped it. “And safer yet; Charlie, can you get Jack into the Wood?”
Charlie nodded. “Don’t see why not. I got Ryan in. You don’t want her to be able to use him as a focus?”
Not with Graham standing beside him. “I want her confused, at least for a minute or two.”
“If my mother dies here…”
Allie looked down at Jack’s thin fingers clutching her arm, and braced herself.
“… I get to help eat her.”
Okay, that needed different bracing. She opened her mouth. Closed it again. Figured what the hell. “Sure.”
“Awesome.” Looking pleased, Jack gave her arm a little squeeze before he let it go. Allie could smell the fabric scorching.
“All right, the aunties may know what they’re doing, but we’re going to be making this up as we go along.” She paused halfway to the door. Speaking of the aunties… “David?”
He nodded once, horn not quite visible but still very present. “Do what you have to, Allie, I’m stronger than you think. So are you.”
Hands outstretched, their fingertips just barely touched, sending a frisson of want up her arm. She thought of Charlie wearing the thimbles, wondered if it would help. Without Graham right there to ground her, she didn’t dare risk hugging him although she very much wanted to.
Eyes dark, Roland stepped between them. David would anchor the first circle, but Roland would anchor her. Today and, if they survived, every ritual where he was the only second circle male. Her father, not a Gale, had never been a part of ritual. Allie thought of explaining all that to Graham. Oh, fun.
Roland read the thought off her face. Or maybe from deeper in, all things considered. “Perhaps it’s for the best Graham isn’t here right now.”
“Yeah.” Her voice shook only a little. Little enough to ignore. “I was just thinking much the same thing.”
“All right, kid…” Charlie led the way down the stairs. “… experience with your uncle suggests we’re going to need to take a run at this, so we’ll start at the back door. I’ll begin to play, you put your hand on my shoulder, and with luck we’ll be moving fast enough when we hit the shrubbery to get through.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Doesn’t matter. Just keep up and we’ll be fine.” Pulling the back door open, she sighed. “Fucking rain.”
Jack pushed past her, stretching out a hand so that fat drops of water sizzled against his palm. “I shouldn’t be so hot. It’s probably because my mother’s so close.”
“Your mother gets you hot? Wait.” She held up a hand before he could answer. “Forget I asked. That was wrong on so many levels.”
“It’s too much power in one place,” Jack explained, head back, catching the rain in his mouth.
“Yeah, that’s where I was going,” Charlie sighed. She pried a cheap plastic poncho out of its pouch and stuffed her head through an opening clearly designed for the skulls of three year olds, stretching the neck out and ripping the hood entirely off. Since the point of the exercise was to protect her guitar, her head didn’t actually much matter. “You need to be behind me, kid. One hand on my shoulder,” she added as he dripped his way back into the house, flipping wet bangs back out of his eyes. A Dragon Prince with emo hair and daddy issues. Her life had become Manga. “Skin contact will help, so move that one finger over until you’re touching my neck and… God fucking damn it, that hurts!” Jerking away she rubbed at the rising blister. “You think you can keep it down to a slight scorching?”
Jack frowned at his hands as though he were still getting used to them. Probably was, when it came to it. “I can try.”
“Thank you.”
It wasn’t hard to find his song, not with him standing right there radiating, but when she attempted to walk them over into the Wood, it was like dragging the Saddledome behind her. Ryan had been heavy, but Jack…
“You can’t be that much bigger than Ryan,” she gasped after the third unsuccessful attempt, trying to push one of the flattened bushes vertical with the side of her shoe.
“Well, yeah, I can. Size is all about power and I’m the heir. And a sorcerer.” Just to prove it, it stopped raining on him. “So I’m lots bigger than Uncle Ryan.”
“Yeah, well, size matters here too, kid. Don’t let anyone tell you differently. Come on.” Giving up on the bush, she headed back inside. “We’re going to need a lot more space.” The poncho came off as the door closed behind them. Leaning up the stairs, she yelled for Michael and Joe. “I need more room,” she told them when they appeared. “We’re heading down the road to the park.”
“In what?” Michael demanded. “Both cars are gone.”
“Graham’s truck.”
“Do you have the keys?”
Charlie snorted. “Please. How long have you known me?” Passing the mirror she flicked a finger against the frame. The reflection showed Jack, a large gold dragon and a relatively small green dragon against a shimmering white background. “Thanks. A little perspective would’ve been more helpful about twenty minutes ago.”
“That music is really lame,” Jack muttered, slouched down in the seat as far as the belt allowed, feet up on the dash.
“Hey!” Charlie smacked his shoulder. “Do not be dissing Emerson Drive.”
“I want to listen to something good!” He reached for the radio, but she was faster.
“Two things,” she said smacking his hand back. “One, if I’m behind the wheel we go by Winchester rules: driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cakehole. And two…” The truck rocked up on two wheels as she took a sharp turn into the Fort Calgary parking lot. “… we’re here.”
Jack’s nose twitched as he got out of the truck. “This is where the Fey gate was, right?”
“Yeah.” Charlie nodded along the path, dragging the misshapen poncho back on over her head. “Right at the entrance to the… Fuck. Hang on.” She pulled her phone from her belt pouch and frowned at the call display. Unknown numbers were not something that showed up on family phones. Raising a hand to hold Jack in place, she moved away from the truck. “Yeah?”
“You have Jack with you. I want to see him. I want to see my son.”
Hadn’t been expecting that. She smiled, and knew he could feel exactly how she meant it. “Fuck you.”
“Do you think you can control him, Charlotte? Keep him from his destiny? No, you can’t. He should be here, with me, embracing all that he is.”
“Embracing a dirt nap if he gets close to you.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. We’ll face his mother together, he and I.”
“Yeah, like that’s a convincing argument for…”