cooperation when it came to the investigation of her husband's death.
'I realize that,' she said, her voice sharper than she'd intended.
He smiled slightly. 'Your… abilities will come out during the trial.'
'My abilities are nothing when compared to Eleanor's, believe me.'
Though she privately doubted if the case would ever make it to trial. There wasn't a prison built that could hold a woman like Eleanor—a shapeshifter well versed in the art of black magic.
She remembered the coldness—no, deadness—in Jon's blue eyes as he'd left to go after Hank, and she suddenly realized he had never intended handing Eleanor and Hank over to the police. Jon was judge, jury and executioner.
He'd come to Taurin Bay to kill, not capture.
Ice crawled over her skin, splintering into her heart. She shivered and rubbed her arms.
Mack frowned at her. 'Better drink that coffee up. Your brother-in-law will be here soon to collect both you and Evan.'
Mack regarded her for a long moment. She had a feeling there was little he missed. Even her dislike of Steve.
'Okay. I'll go see if the doctor has finished with him.' He rose and walked quietly from the room.
Left with nothing else to do while she waited, Maddie sipped the coffee. It tasted as bad as it looked.
The minutes crawled by, and the coffee slowly cooled.
'Aunt Maddie?'
She glanced up. Evan stood in the doorway, staring at her with an odd mixture of relief and uncertainty on his face. It made him look older, and yet somehow more vulnerable. She smiled and opened her arms.
He ran across the room like a child and fell into her hug.
'I knew you'd come for me,' he whispered. 'I watched you in my dreams.'
She closed her eyes. So it was true. Evan had inherited abilities just like hers. And like her, he had a mother and father who didn't want to know.
But at least she was here, and she'd do whatever it took to ensure his abilities didn't take him down the same path as hers. One murderer in the family was more than enough. 'Are your mom and dad here yet?'
'No.' He hesitated and pulled away slightly. 'Why isn't Jon with you?'
She raised an eyebrow at the unexpected question. 'He went after Hank.'
Evan grabbed her hand, sudden desperation filling his eyes. 'You have to save Teresa. You just have to.'
Teresa was obviously the name of the other kid. Maddie wondered how he knew her, then saw that Evan's gaze was distant and shadowed, as if he were viewing the scenes of a movie no one else could see.
Maddie rubbed a hand across her eyes. She really wasn't up to this. It was only thanks to Jon's intervention that she had escaped Hank's clutches. And if she stayed any longer in Taurin Bay, she had a horrible feeling she'd have some sort of run-in with Eleanor. And escaping that woman's claws a second time would not be so easy. Better to avoid her all together.
'Jon will find her, Evan.'
'No!' The sudden urgency in his voice made her shiver. He sounded so much like his stern, uncompromising father it was frightening. 'Jon will go after her. You have to rescue Teresa—promise me you will. Promise me you won't leave.'
She took a deep breath. It would be nothing short of madness to make such a vow. She'd been lucky up until now, but that luck surely wouldn't hold. It never had. She opened her mouth to refuse, but the sheer desperation in Evan's amber-brown eyes made her hesitate. He was seeing the future, and it obviously wasn't good for the second teenager. Could she handle the weight of another death?
She sighed and closed her eyes. 'I promise.'
Evan blinked, and his eyes became clear again. 'Good. So tell me, why is Dad mad at you?'
It was almost as if a switch had been flicked somewhere in his head. He obviously suffered none of the confusion she had. She sipped at the cold coffee, searching for a tactful answer. 'You've talked to him?'
'Yes. And he's angry.'
She smiled grimly. How did she explain to a thirteen-year-old that his father's anger stemmed from the fear that she would destroy his family, as she had destroyed her own?
'He's not really mad, Evan. I think he's a little scared.' She hesitated and brushed the stray red-gold strands of hair out of teenager's eyes.
Had it only been three weeks since she'd last seen him? The way he stood, the way he studied her— suddenly he wasn't a child any more, but a man. And while the kidnapping might have had something to do with that, she thought the explanation was more likely to be found in the arrival of his gifts. Her own had forced her to grow up fast, and she'd barely been six.
'I think he knows that you have similar gifts to mine. I think that's why he's scared.'
Evan tilted his head and studied her for a moment. 'But if I wasn't gifted, you would never have found me.'
She smiled. There spoke the logic of a child. 'True, Evan. Perhaps you should remind your dad of that when he gets here.'
'I will.' He hesitated, and fear touched his gaze. 'She'll come after me, you know. I'm not safe, Aunt Maddie. Not here, not at home.'
She remembered the venom in Eleanor's voice—and the fact that they still needed Evan to complete the ceremony. Remembered the shapeshifter's contempt of the protection the police station offered. Evan was right. He wasn't safe—not until Eleanor was caught, or dead.
She squeezed his shoulder lightly. 'I'll talk to your mom and dad. I'll get them to go somewhere else for a couple of days.'
He nodded. Footsteps rattled down the hall, and she glanced at the door. Mack walked into the room, followed quickly by Steve. Meeting her brother-in-law's steely gaze, she saw only contempt. Evan ran to his father, and Steve's big arms all but engulfed him.
'They tell me you helped rescue Evan,' he said, his lips thin as he glared at her. 'I guess I owe you thanks, and… I'm sorry for giving you so much grief.'
Any apology, however reluctant, was the last thing she'd expected. 'No matter what you think of me, Steve, I couldn't just sit around and let something happen to Evan.'
Evan glanced across at her. He knew, as she did, that the police would never have found him. Not in time to save his life.
Steve's sun-browned face held a hint of malice. 'As you did your husband, you mean?'
She sighed. Trust him to bring the subject up with the police and the FBI in the room. 'He physically and mentally abused me, Steve, and I have the scars to prove it.' She hesitated, then shrugged away the rise of guilt.
She'd paid for the mistake she'd made that day—through isolation, loneliness and fear—and it never seemed to be enough. And yet, if she had the chance to undo the past, she wouldn't.
'That's no justification for killing him.'
She lowered her gaze from his. 'I didn't. The fire did.'
'The fire that you lit.'
Yes, the fire was hers, but she'd just wanted him to stop, to leave her alone. She briefly closed her eyes, then repeated the same old lie. 'It was an accident, Steve.' She shrugged. The scorn in his face told her he would never believe her, no matter what she said. 'And it's not important now. You should be worried about Evan, not about my past.'
He frowned, sudden worry replacing the contempt in his eyes. 'What do you mean?'
'The woman has already taken Evan once from your home. What makes you think she can't do it again?'
He snorted. 'If she has any brains, she'll be on the run. She has to know the net is closing in on her.'
'Are you willing to bet you son's life on that?' She could tell by his suddenly defensive stance that he wasn't.
