“What do we do in the meantime?” I asked. “Can he start school? Is this a full moon-related phenomenon?”
Kaz rubbed his chin. “We just had the full moon, and you had your initiation ceremony, am I correct?”
I nodded.
“So, we have another month before the next one. I think Harper should go about his life, maybe keep his shirt on,” he suggested, his smile kind and full of understanding. “I also think he needs to stay open and willing to being closely monitored.”
“Hey. Guys. I’m right here.” Harper came up on his elbows and pushed his way into sitting on the edge of the table, his wadded shirt pressed to his chest. “This is happening to me, so I’d appreciate being included. And Mom,” he added, punching his arms through the sleeve holes. He winced and pulled the shirt off. “I can handle this. I just don’t want Dad to come back here. Did you see how he tried to take Thatch away?”
I had temporarily misplaced that piece of the evening’s excitement. I looked from Harper’s set and settled face to Kaz’s. “Kaz? What do you think we should do?”
“Operation Calliope’s Fortress,” he said without hesitation. “You’ve got Tanner here. He’s weakened, but don’t discount his abilities, especially once he’s mobile again. If you’ve got coffee, I can stay the night, add to the wards.”
“Can I do that with you?” Thatcher asked. He’d sidled closer as they spoke and was now bouncing on his toes expectantly as he looked back and forth between me and Kaz.
“It’s fine with me,” I said. “But if there’s any hint, even the tiniest, that Doug or Roger or anyone else from that side of the family is back, I want you in the house, okay? No heroics.”
Thatch nodded and tapped his brother’s thigh. “What about you, Harp?”
“I want to call Leilani, see how she’s doing.” He winced as he gripped the edge of the table. “Y’know, Mom, she’s eighteen too. Should she be here?”
I had no idea, but I was already strategizing how to talk to Leilani’s fathers about her potential and their plans for furthering her magical education. “Talk to her, see how’s she’s doing. No one’s leaving the property tonight, so no sneaking out. If she’s scared, or…”
“Dad knows about her. At least let me warn her.” Harper slid off the table, shook Kaz’s hand, and let him know he’d be upstairs.
I watched him walk away, shoulders drawn and the skin on his back a splotchy canvas in shades of red and pink. Doug knowing about Leilani could complicate things.
Kaz broke my train of thought. “Thatcher, if you’re going to help me add to the wards, we need to get your arm in a sling. Come here.”
“Mom? Where are you?” came Harper’s voice.
I poked my head out of my office. I had relinquished my bedroom to Tanner and unfolded the futon in my office to use as my temporary bed.
Harper’s feet landed heavily on the last couple of stairs. He’d donned an oversized flannel shirt and left it unbuttoned. “Lei-li’s freaking out. And Mal and Jim aren’t home.”
“Would you both feel better if she was here with you, with us?” I was on my knees, struggling to make a tight corner with a top sheet. The futon was winning.
“One-hundred percent better.”
The concern playing across Harper’s face sealed the deal. “Let’s ask Kaz to pick her up.”
He nodded, worry and relief scudding across his face like clouds over the water on a windy day. “And Mom, is it okay if she stays in my room with me? We won’t… I mean, we don’t…” He pressed the heels of his palms against his eyes. “Fuck.”
“Shh, it’s okay. Right now, we all need to feel safe. And I trust you and Leilani.” I rolled onto my feet and nudged him into the hallway. “And if there’s anything either of you need, don’t be shy about asking.”
My oldest son, the one who’d broken my heart open at the moment of his birth, blushed and drew me in for a hug. “Thanks, Mom, for understanding. And for being amazing. I love you.”
While Kaz fetched Leilani, I changed the sheets on my bed for Tanner and left a quilt and a pillow in the living room for the evening’s designated triage nurse and chauffeur.
“Remember to put out towels for Lei-li,” I called up the staircase.
I was desperate for sleep, but houseguests deserved clean bedding and their own towels, and if the amount of thumping was any indication, Harper was turbo-cleaning his room in anticipation of his special guest.
He called back, “Got it, Mom.”
My special guest was talking on his cell phone in the living room. I pantomimed him walking down the hall and sleeping in my bedroom. He nodded and mouthed a thank you.
Bed. Sleep. I ducked into the refuge of my office, rested my upper back against the closed door, and visualized sliding between crisp cotton sheets and seeing this day finally end.
Dammit. The tinctures were waiting, unopened, in their pretty lavender bag in the downstairs bathroom.
I reread the instructions, dropped the recommended dosage into a small glass of water, and drank it down. The smell of Kaz’s coffee meandered down the hall and tried to tease my brain into waking up, but my body wisely overruled the temptation.
When I closed my eyes and sank my head into the blessedly soft pillow, sleep came fast.
Mornings arrived early during the height of summer, and by four-thirty or five on Monday, light streamed through my office’s uncurtained windows. I lay on my back, covered to my breasts by a white cotton sheet, and contemplated rising before anyone else.
Stretching my arms and legs, I opted to stay in my makeshift bed. My toes found the cool surface of the wall underneath the window, and my fingertips
