“And how do we break their control?” she asks.
“You don’t.” His response is quick. Short.
“There must be a way? Something. Somehow,” she says.
“Sure.”
Luna and I fall silent and the air becomes heavy with our held breaths.
“You kill the source.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Kill the source. Kill Caleb.
That’s not going to happen. Caleb is locked up. Doing time in the pen. He even managed to get himself tossed into solitary confinement. Nobody’s getting to him in there.
Plus, murder is all kinds of wrong.
Luna cuts the conversation with her uncle to a sharp end, dropping the receiver into the cradle.
“Well, that’s a bust,” I blurt and slouch in my chair.
“Really?” she asks. “There isn’t anything we can do?”
“Are you suggesting we kill a man?” I yank the scrunchy from my hair, allowing my kinky curls to explode in all directions. With a sense of defeat, I toss the scrunchy to the table.
“We could use magick,” she says.
“Be it by magick or other means, it’s still murder, and I’m not down with that.” I spin the hair scrunchy around my finger. “That would likely forever taint your soul, not to mention all the dark magick it would require. Dabbling in such forces might actually eat your soul.”
“You’re right.” She drops her arms on the table and slides into a slump, like me.
“There has to be some sort of answer we are missing,” I say. “I refuse to believe that my mom is forever stuck in Caleb’s control.”
“Meow.” Bastian rubs against my ankle.
“Hey there, pretty boy.” I reach down and rub the fur along the cat’s back. “Do you have the answers to our predicament?”
“Meow.”
“Clearly he does. Maybe we should put him in charge,” Luna says, a smile attempting to crack through her frustrated façade.
Pulling Bastian into my embrace, I cuddle him like a baby, rubbing his head and the space behind his ears.
“Would you mind if I called the hospital really quick and checked up on my mom?” Luna rests her hand on the phone, anticipating my response.
“Go right ahead.” I step away from the table and carry Bastian into the front room with me, giving Luna some privacy for the call.
I settle into the fluff of the sofa. Place Bastian on the cushion in front of me. He wastes no time jumping to the floor, out of my reach. He meows and dashes for the other room.
The favor of a cat is short lived. I reach for the television remote.
Bastian appears before me and meows.
I set down the remote and scrutinize the cat. “What?” I say.
He dashes out of view.
I wait. Don’t move. He reappears again. Meows.
“Alright.” I get up and follow him.
Bastian leads me to the staircase, glancing back every few moments to confirm I am following. I am. He leads us upstairs and across the landing where he takes a seat in front of the door to my old bedroom.
“Sorry, buddy.” I crouch and pet his fluffy fur. “That room is off limits to you.”
“Meow.” He paces back and forth across the blocked entry, rubbing his side against the door with each turn.
“Why isn’t he allowed in that room?”
I stand and spin. Smile at Luna. “Because my mom’s in there, and the silly guy takes issue with her. Starts hissing and growling.”
“Probably senses the control she is under.”
I agree with a hard nod. Luna gazes at the closed door, then drops her sights to the cat at my feet. “It’s awfully quiet in there.”
“Grandma’s sound-proofing spell.”
“Did someone call me?” Grandma steps clear of her bedroom.
“Just explaining the spell you cast on the room.” I jab a pointed thumb over my shoulder, indicating the door at my back.
“Right. Right. That magick you’ve asked me to stop performing.” She pauses her walk at the top of the stairs.
“Only because it appeared to be hurting you. You have to know that I would never request such a thing under any other circumstances.” I weave my fingers together.
“Now you know how I feel,” she says. “Wanting to keep my loved ones safe.”
Right. I drop my head.
“I talked to your school earlier this morning.”
My head pops up at the mention of school. It’s Monday and if my life were normal and my mom wasn’t currently possessed, I’d be in Algiers, attending school.
“We can swing by there today and pick up a take-home packet with all the work your classes are doing while you are away.”
“Really? I have to keep doing my schoolwork? What if the world was ending?” I pout.
“Well…” She takes the first step down and pauses. “It’s not and you do. Get ready, we’ll head over shortly.”
I frown, then burst with realization. “It’s Monday,” I exclaim.
“That it is,” she says.
“Can we go closer to the end of the school day to collect the packet?” I ask. “I usually meet with my coven on Mondays. If we go a bit later, I can still do that.”
“And I suppose you’d want to spend time with your coven before returning here?” She raises a brow with her question.
“It goes without saying…” I grin.
“That would have us returning after dark,” she says. “And I don’t drive after dark.”
My lips torque into a twisted frown, and I contemplate the dilemma presented. “Can’t you drop us off and Miri or Michael bring us back?”
“Possibly.” She sighs. “I’ll have to check with them to see what can be done.”
I thank my grandma profusely. She checks with my siblings. And after a slight schedule rearrangement, a deal is struck.
Around one thirty, Luna and I jump into the car with Grandma, and we head for my school in Algiers. The car radio plays a news station as we amble toward the river.
“Two children in two weeks have gone missing,” the newscaster reports. “No sign of foul play. No signs at all.” She pleads with listeners to report anything they may have seen or heard. Anything at all.
Grandma turns off the radio. “That’s enough depressing information for one
