Laughter trailed through the first floor of the house, down the porch steps and across the lawn to where Harper and Thatch were setting up chairs and an old bench in the flat area near my herb and vegetable garden and the crabapple tree. We didn’t have a picnic table, so they’d spread an old quilt over the grass.
“Mom, can you throw down the swing cushions?”
I opened the sliding screen door to the back porch, dropped the old, hard pillows to my sons, and again reminded myself it was time to have them replaced. Counting heads, I came up one short.
Sallie was missing. If I held the railing and leaned out, I could see if she was sitting on the small balcony that jutted out from the second floor. Empty. Until a soft meow reached my ears and a fuzzy, whiskered face poked out from between the bars. Another meow, and Jasper disappeared.
Thatcher and Sallie had agreed to share his room while our crew of druids, aided by Christoph, added a guest cabin to the property. If my niece wasn’t joining us for dinner, I had a feeling I knew why.
I knocked on the bedroom’s closed door. Jasper had been waiting on the landing and was between my ankles, rubbing the sides of his face against the door jamb.
“Come in.”
“Hey,” I said, stepping into the right side of the room. The teens had hung a huge cotton tapestry from the ceiling to give them each a sense of privacy. “You hungry?”
Sallie shook her head, the uneven ends of her hair swishing around her jaw and neck. “No.”
“Shamaha’s here’s. She came with Ro and Wes and she’d love to see you.”
“It’s hard for me to be around Leilani and her fathers.” Sallie’s cell phone buzzed. She kept her sad-eyed gaze on me, before flipping the phone in her hand and reading her message.
“WHERE TF ARE YOU???”
Thumbs flying, she sent her own message and waited. When the incoming response dinged, Sallie read it, sighed hard, and looked at me again. This time, her gaze was raw. “My girlfriend’s on the road and she can’t get past the wards. She can’t even see the house. Can I ask her in for dinner?”
“I would love to meet her,” I said. “And there’s food enough for everybody.”
Sallie linked her fingers through mine, and hefted Jasper onto her hip. Thatcher was moving from the kitchen to the door, a stack of tall glasses in one hand and a bucket of ice in the other.
“Need help?” I asked.
He acknowledged my question with a nod. He only had eyes for Sallie, and smiled broadly when she said, “Azura’s here.”
“Cool. See you out back.”
An irritated young women in a retro dress and heels paced at the end of the driveway. Wes and Kaz had created wards that allowed humans to see my house, while keeping everything hidden from Magicals, at least from the road. Azura was—obviously—on the magical spectrum.
“Let me hold Jasper while you reach for her,” I instructed, eying the two vintage suitcases standing next to the girl. “I assume she’ll recognize your hand?”
Sallie nodded and swallowed. “My nails look like shit, but she knows my rings.” She transferred the hefty cat to me, grabbed my hand, and beckoned to Harlow.
Azura screamed and slapped at Sallie’s fingers. Taking a step back, she darted looks to her left and right, and up to the sky, then peered at a spot right beyond Sallie’s shoulder.
“Do that again, Flechette,” she said, extending her arm. Sallie reached past the ward, grabbed Azura’s wrist, and tugged.
“Hey,” she said, “you look so pretty.”
Azura shook off the compliment and kissed Sallie. The two pressed their foreheads together, whispered, “I missed you” at the same, and broke apart giggling.
“Hi, I’m Calliope, and welcome to our home. You hungry?”
Azura nodded. “Sorry for crashing the party, but it’s taken me so long to find Sallie and once I had your address I couldn’t wait.”
“Did you drive?” I asked, searched the road for a parked vehicle.
“Ferry from Swartz Bay, bus into town from the terminal, then hitched a ride. I could really use a bathroom.”
“C’mon, then. And don’t forget your luggage.”
Sallie hefted both suitcases and led Harlow toward the house, while I waved them off and headed to the feast. Jasper pressed his hind paws against me, and when I let him go, he headed straight for Shamaha.
“What are the chances we can have one, uninterrupted meal?” I directed my question to the assembled guests and family members while helping myself to a slab of lasagna. Melted cheese oozed between layers of grilled red peppers and onions and other ingredients. I seriously considered taking my plate back to my bedroom and shovelling forkfuls into my mouth while naked. Naked, and wishing Tanner had also shown up, unannounced and exquisitely anticipated.
At least, by me.
“I think the odds are eighty-seven percent in our favor that Sallie’s friend is the last Magical to cross the wards onto the property tonight,” said Wes, balancing his plate in his lap while he leaned against Rowan. “River said he finished your tattoo. Care to show it to us, Calli?”
I swallowed and wiped my mouth. “Soon, I promise.”
Thatcher clanked his glass of lemonade with his fork. “I would like to propose a toast,” he began. He held his glass high, and acknowledged the gathering of adults and teenagers—and one special feline.
“Wait for us!” Sallie waved one arm, her other hand entwined with Harlow’s. They each filled the empty glasses Christoph offered. “Thank you, Thatch,” she said, catching her breath. I gave silent thanks for Harlows’ arrival and the subsequent injection of joy flickering over Sallie’s face.
<Insert more dinner here>
“I would like to acknowledge our mom’s aunt, Noémi.” Thatcher closed his eyes for a moment and lifted his free hand in the direction of the house. When his eyelids opened, there was a clarity to the hazel coloring that declared he
