“Oh, you’re so sick!” Sami stomped her feet on the floor as she headed toward the door. “Why do I have to have the sickest parents in the world?”
“It’s probably karma,” Aric offered. “Unfortunately, I think we got the mouthiest daughter in the world for the exact same reason.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”
Cormack continued smiling until their voices faded, then he turned serious and focused on me. “I think it’s time to call the front office. They need to know what happened here.”
I nodded in agreement. “What are we going to tell them about how the revenant exploded?”
“We’re going to tell them you did it.”
I was taken aback. “What?”
“They already know you’re magical.” His tone was measured. “I don’t want to put you on the spot but I don’t see where we have a lot of choice. Sami might be the most powerful child we’ve ever come into contact with but she’s still vulnerable. We can’t put her at risk.”
“I happen to agree.” Paris nervously rubbed her hands together. “I know she seems self-assured. She’s at an awkward age, though.”
“I remember the age.” Cormack’s smile was back. “When Aisling was fourteen she started asking around at various businesses in Grosse Pointe about hiring a hitman. She’d heard that mobsters frequented the Italian restaurants along the water, and she wanted to use her allowance to find someone willing to take out Angelina.”
Oddly enough, I could believe that. Angelina Davenport was Aisling’s archnemesis and an all-around horrible person. The Grimlock family’s hatred for her ran deep. “How did you catch her?”
“One of the men she approached called me. He thought I should know what my daughter was up to.”
I laughed at the picture he painted. “What did he really do for a living?”
“That’s the truly scary part. She found exactly who she was looking for.”
I swallowed hard. “Seriously?”
He nodded, bemused affection causing his lips to curve. “The individual in question said he was willing to do it on principle given the stories Aisling told him about Angelina, but he thought she might come to regret it in time. I thanked him for contacting me, offered to pay him for his time — I didn’t want him to seek out Aisling down the road — but he declined. He said he had a fourteen-year-old daughter, too. He understood about hormones and mouths that simply wouldn’t quit.”
“Huh.” I had no idea what to make of the story. “Did Aisling ever realize that she’d actually found the right guy?”
“I don’t think so. Even if she did, though, I doubt there would be any regret. Aisling has learned that death is a quick solution — at least most of the time. If you want to really torture someone, you have to drag it out. That’s what she does with Angelina.”
“I think it’s more than that with them,” I argued. “I’ve seen them throw down. It’s like a cardio workout for both of them.”
He chuckled. “Yes. They’re entertaining.” He straightened and glanced around. “We need to make the call ... and then I have somewhere I want you to go with me, Izzy.”
I was surprised by the request. “Sure. May I ask where we’re going?”
“I think it’s time I visited my mother.”
My heart dropped. “Oh. Are you sure you want me to go with you?”
“I think you’re the best choice. First things first, though. We need to get rid of the goo.”
I couldn’t agree more.
MARY GRIMLOCK’S PRISON LOOKED LIKE AN OVERSIZED house in Detroit. It was in one of the nicer areas, one that had seen revitalization over the last twenty years, and the street was clean and quiet. There was only one vehicle in the driveway and I knew it belonged to the jailers keeping Mary under wraps.
“What are you going to tell her?” I asked as we walked up the sidewalk. “I mean ... are you going to tell her the gate is working again?”
Cormack’s expression was unreadable. “I thought I would play it by ear.”
He seemed much grimmer than he had been an hour before, when Sami was stealing his heart and lightening the emotional load he appeared to be carrying. Even though the child made me nervous — seriously, how could something that mouthy be so powerful? — I recognized she might be exactly what Cormack needed to pull out of his funk.
“I’m guessing you want to do the talking,” I said.
He grinned. “I have five children, Izzy. Never once when I’ve used those words have I actually been able to control the conversation.”
That made me laugh. “I’m better behaved than your children.”
“You are,” he agreed. “Only marginally, though.”
“Hey!”
He reached for the door handle. “That’s not an insult. I happen to like a child with energy.”
“Which is why you’re so enamored of Sami Winters.”
“She does have a certain ... spark.”
“If you say so.” I slid under his arm and into the house. I’d been here twice before, with Braden and his older brother Redmond, back when they were convinced there had to be some explanation they’d missed as to why their grandparents had turned on them. That inclination had faded fast and now they viewed the prisoner being kept here as nothing more than a woman they used to know — vaguely, at that — a lifetime ago.
“Hello, sir.” The guard sitting on a couch in the living room — from the outside, the house appeared normal so as not to stir suspicion from the neighbors — scrambled to his feet and offered an awkward salute. “I didn’t realize you were coming for a visit today.”
“I didn’t realize it either.” Cormack’s smile was rueful. “I need to see the prisoner.”
“Of course, sir.” The guard’s gaze landed on me. “Will you be going in alone?”
“I will not.” Cormack didn’t see the need to explain himself to an underling. “I don’t expect we’ll be here very long. The prisoner has been uncooperative for the most part, and I don’t expect that to change.”
“It’s unlikely,” the guard agreed. “You should
