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Gwen had originally been ready to stay in a hotel for a week while she “searched” for Keith. From the way she got along so well with Carly and Genevieve though, Carly insisted she stay with us to save the cost. Carly even gave up her bed and slept on the couch downstairs. It was that which saved us, well some of us.

Despite my long day and being snuggled up next to Genevieve I had trouble sleeping. I woke just after 4:00 am to a banging sound and I sat up in bed even as Genevieve did the same. I could hear a pounding of feet up the steps. Carly threw open our door, “Wake up girls! We got company!” Genevieve was to her feet instantly and I quickly followed suit. “Kayla go wake Gwen, tell her there’s Hunters at our front door and the door won’t hold long.” Carly began stripping off the clothes she had been sleeping in.

Genevieve raised her eyebrows, “Is it really bad enough you need to use that?”

“If there were only half a dozen or so I wouldn’t bother but there’s close to twenty out there from what I could tell so we need an edge.” I heard Carly respond as I dashed out of the room and down the hall to where Carly usually slept. I flung the door open and was across the room and shaking Gwen awake before I even realized I was doing it as I wondered what kind of idiots attack Vampires in the dead of night.

“Gwen, wake up.” I shook her a bit roughly in my near panic, not really sure what was going on, but if Carly was scared, that made me scared. She hadn’t even made any morbid jokes. Gwen woke, jumping back a bit at seeing me. I didn’t realize why at first until I felt a drop fall upon my arm. I hadn’t even noticed I’d been crying until then. A face covered in bloody tears right in front of you when first waking would make anyone jump. “Gwen, Carly says there’s Hunters at the door and…” That’s when we first heard the gunshots. Soon after there was a loud cracking sound as the front door gave way.

Feet pounded up the stairs and I realized that the Hunters would likely get to us first. I had barely finished that thought when two of them appeared at the doorway pointing guns inside. I froze not knowing what to do just staring as they pointed their guns at Gwen and I then something caught my attention behind them in the hallway. Two hands seemed to emerge from the wall, followed by arms and then the rest of a very naked Carly. She grabbed both men by the back of their skulls, smacking their heads into the doorframe with a sickening wet crunching sound. She then raised her finger to her mouth motioning for us to be quiet as she leaned back against the wall blending back in to it.

I shook my head to clear it, not quite sure what just happened, while Gwen moved forward picking up a gun from one of the corpses in the doorway. She moved so she was against the wall just to the side of the door and motioned for me to take the other side. There were more footsteps on the stairs, it sounded like four or five of them this time, they were probably coming up to check on their friends. From her position at the side of the door Gwen could see them coming and she fired a few shots at them before diving back into the room.

There was a thump by the stairs and I assumed Gwen managed to hit one of them. Their return fire was too late and they continued making their way to the room, “Give it up freaks you’re outnumbered.” A voice said from the other side of the wall. “You’re not going to get out of here alive.”

Gwen pointed her gun at the doorway, “Why don’t you come in here and say that.” Maybe Sena Island wasn’t as boring as I always thought, Gwen seemed to be taking to this as if she were used to it. She owned a bookstore, how the hell did she know how to use a gun? The men responded by firing through the walls in the direction of her voice. They missed her, while I was not so lucky. Unfortunately for me I was leaning against the wall and took a hit to the shoulder and my side. I screamed out it pain as the bullets tore through me falling to the floor, and that is when all hell broke loose.

There were screams and a crash as two men in black were propelled through the wall, Carly’s hands on their throats, and she crushed their windpipes before they even hit the floor, screaming in rage. Through the hole in the wall I could see Genevieve in the hallway dispatching the other two shooters; she snapped the neck of one and broke both of the other’s arms, tossing him on the floor beside me, saying simply, “Feed.” He screamed in terror as I crawled over to him and sank my fangs into his neck and I could hear more of them coming up the stairs. The pain subsided as I drank my fill, and I licked the wound to close it before breaking his neck. This wasn’t the time to be worrying about not leaving corpses behind and we all knew it, but still, drained bodies would get attention even in a massacre like this.

Carly and Genevieve were on the men in the stairwell like a whirlwind of death. I had known that with them being vampires they were probably very capable killers but until now I had refused to equate that with these two women who cared so much about me. Gwen and I joined them quickly knowing the odds were against them. They had taken down three but five still remained and who knew how many more downstairs. Gwen’s hand glowed with a pale light and one of the men froze in place. Only his eyes were moving, darting around wildly until I broke his neck and he fell to the floor lifeless.

We were down to three of them on the stairs and I could see two on the main floor watching the fight on the stairwell and pointing something upward, probably more guns. I leaped over the banister and was on top of one of them in seconds tearing out his throat as I barreled into him. His weapon, a crossbow loaded with a sharpened piece of wood, dropped as he hit the floor even as his companion fired his own.

Carly, who was finishing off one of the last two men on the stairs, didn’t even have the chance to scream before it pierced her heart and she turned to dust. I did scream, in fury, as I leapt upon Carly’s murderer. He too screamed for the short period of time he continued to live. I sat upon what was left of his corpse, bloody tears running down my cheeks until Genevieve and Gwen pulled me away, still sobbing.

One of the men had escaped, taking off in one of the four black SUVs they had come in. The rest were all dead, we had killed them all, but that didn’t matter to me. Carly was gone. Genevieve held me for a short time as we both cried from our loss. “She’s gone Mother,” I sniffled, burying myself in her arms.

After a moment she spoke, “They will be back in greater numbers, if the police don’t get here first, we need to leave. Carly wouldn’t want her death to be in vain.” I nodded sadly and we went to quickly get cleaned and dressed. It didn’t take us long to get ready, Gwen still had her clothes in her suitcase, Genevieve had not yet unpacked her duffel bag prepared the night before and my new clothes, still in shopping bags for the most part ,were easily packed in another duffel as were the few bags of blood we had remaining.

We put our bags in one of the SUVs, the driver wouldn’t be needing it anymore and had considerately left the keys in the ignition when they stormed the house. Gwen took to the driver’s seat silently and as Genevieve and I buckled ourselves into our seats she took off driving leaving us to our grief. The sun was starting to rise as we pulled into the underground parking lot of one of Toronto’s more reputable hotels. We paid for a double room, being sure to use cash, and took our bags upstairs to our room, making sure to close the curtains tight.

I didn’t remember having fallen asleep but I woke around noon. Genevieve and Gwen were sitting on the other bed discussing our next step. “We can’t stay here, not with what happened at Carly’s house. The police are bound to be looking for anyone who may be involved Gwen, and while I doubt any of the neighbors saw you well enough last night to get a good description there’s always a chance someone may have seen the two of us well enough to get a description of us.” Genevieve sighed, “The Hunters would expect us to stay here or in another big city where we can get lost in the crowd.”

“What about that Ravencrest place you and Carly mentioned?” I ventured. “Didn’t you say there was a lot of Unseen there?”

“I can’t take you there, Wisteria would likely see us both as a threat, and it could cause a war. We’re going to have to go somewhere else, somewhere we can lay low for a while, someplace boring and secluded where we can just blend in.”

“I know just the place,” Gwen said, giving me a nervous smile.

“Oh hell no, not a chance,” I responded vehemently.

“You did say it’s the most boring place on the continent.”

“I also said I won’t ever go back there unless my life depended on it.” I crossed my arms defiantly.

Genevieve looked at me sternly, “At the moment it just might. We need to move quickly and this really is the only option we have right now.”

My defiance withered under her glare. She was my Maker and more of a mother to me than that woman on the island ever was. I loved and respected her and I knew that she did have my best interests at heart. I could not refuse her in this and I knew it, so I did the only thing I could do, I pouted. “Yes Mom,” I said, my tone dripping with teenage angst.

Genevieve shook her head, “You’ll have to call me Genevieve or Gen when we’re in public. I’ll be your older cousin. You never knew your father and you were sent into my care after your mother recently died in a tragic accident.” We were both feeling enough grief at the moment from Carly’s death to make that completely believable. “You may call me what you wish in private, but this will be our cover for the Norms and we can’t afford to mess up.”

“Is there anything else I should know?” I asked, knowing she was right and that we needed an airtight cover story.

“Your name is Kayla Marie Dunn, you’re sixteen, and we’re moving to this town of yours because I wanted to be closer to my good friend Gwen and I felt that if I were going to be raising an impressionable teen a small town would be the best place to do it. You like the colors red and purple, your birthday is December 19th, and you enjoy reading.” She turned to Gwen, “And what do you plan to say to anyone worried about Keith when you come back early from your search?”

Gwen shrugged, “While you two were asleep I went to the police and filed a missing persons report. I told them we hadn’t heard from him since before Christmas and he always calls on Christmas day. I went to his dorm but there was no sign of him. They’ve labeled him missing but they don’t have much hope of finding him alive at this point. They’re also stretched a bit thin what with that horrible mass murder last night. They think it was gang related it seems. The police said there’s nothing I can do here and they will phone me if they learn anything.” She seemed to concentrate on something for a moment before continuing, “And anyone coming here looking for Keith would have a hard time locating him, even by magical means. So I’ll just tell them all the truth. It’s not like anyone but my mom and I have heard from Keith.”

The memory of sitting at the computer with Carly burned into my mind, the memory of her laughter threatening to bring tears as it hit me once again that she was gone, stolen from me just when we had made a connection. I shoved the memory aside as I realized that we had a problem. “Oh shit, Pete.”

After my revelation about my little talk with Pete we decided it would be best to see if he could be convinced to remain quiet about our conversation should the police decide to talk to him about Keith’s disappearance. It would be too dangerous to wait around until he got back to Mesmer him and going out of our way to Thunder Bay on a wild goose chase could be just as dangerous as we wanted to keep our appearances in public airports to a minimum until we were on the other side of the country.

With that in mind, since Gwen and I were least likely to be recognized, the two of us went to a nearby electronics store bearing one of Genevieve’s credit cards to purchase a laptop. I felt a pang of loss when Gwen said I was her favorite niece and we were looking to buy me a good laptop for school. I thought sadly of Carly and almost didn’t hear the salesman as he asked if I just wanted it for school or whether I liked gaming as well. I shook off my dour mood and plastered a fake smile on my face, “Oh yeah I’m totally into Resident Evil and stuff!” With that said we found a pretty sweet laptop and what accessories would be needed, and the price wasn’t even that bad, though I may have Mesmered him just a little to get a small discount.

Once more into the breach, I thought to myself as I waited for Pete to come online. I had little hope of contacting him today with it being New Year’s Eve and all, but he probably wouldn’t start partying until evening and he might just go online to do some gaming before that. I signed in as invisible so I would appear offline to my contacts, to avoid any further mishaps, and as I waited I busied myself with purchasing the plane tickets for our trip to the west coast. I managed to book us all seats on a 9:30pm flight that would arrive in Vancouver just after 11:30pm. With luck we would be ringing in the New Year in relative safety.

It was almost 3:30pm when Pete came online and I took a deep breath as I tried to figure out the best way to approach this and started typing a message to him.

Keith_Roseberry: Hi Pete, you got a few minutes to talk before you go out partying.

LovrboyPete: Sure dude, what you need?

Keith_Roseberry: Have you told anyone that you talked to me the other night?

LovrboyPete: No, why would I? We talk all the time dude, it’s nothing special

Keith_Roseberry: Good I need you to keep it that way. Oh and when you get back to the dorm you might want to hide your stash of booze and weed a bit better.

LovrboyPete: What’s going on dude? You in some kind of trouble?

Keith_Roseberry: Something like that. My family and the police think I’m missing and possibly dead and believe me it’s better that way. If the police or anyone else comes asking questions about me I need you to tell them you haven’t seen or heard from me since the night before you left. Can you do that for me?

LovrboyPete: Dude, we’ve been best buds for three years, you know I got your back. If you’re in trouble I’ll help any way I can.

Keith_Roseberry: Great man, thanks. Just when you get back make a show of being worried about me. Maybe go to the police yourself after a day or two if they don’t contact you first, and tell them you’re worried because it looks like I haven’t been home in a while and it’s not like me to leave without somehow telling my best friend I’m going to be gone. And don’t mention to anyone that you’ve heard from me.

LovrboyPete: Anything else I can do dude?

Keith_Roseberry: I doubt it would happen, but If anyone else asks around about me besides the police leave a message at my cousin’s bookstore in my hometown for my cousin Gwen or Kayla, they’ll make sure I get the message.

LovrboyPete: I’ll do it but you owe me big time bro. Whenever you’re out of whatever trouble you’re in promise me you’ll tell me the whole story.

Keith_Roseberry: Cross my heart and hope to die.

LovrboyPete: Dude, don’t say things like that, you’re scaring me.

Keith_Roseberry: Sorry man, bad joke, don’t worry I’ll be fine. I gotta go.

LovrboyPete: Take care of yourself dude.

Keith_Roseberry: Will do.

With that I signed out of the Instant Message program and turned to Gwen and Genevieve, giving them a thumbs-up. The two looked somewhat relieved and now that that was out of the way we focused on our plan. We expected Hunters to be watching the airports. It was explained to me that Hunters were members of an organization called the Order of the Sacred Heart. They were bad news for any Unseen. To make us less noticeable it was decided that I would stay away from my normal goth-inspired fashions. Luckily it was winter in Toronto and it gave us an excuse to bundle up and hide a lot of our features.

I ended up with black denim jeans and a long tan parka that managed to hide my figure pretty well, my long purple hair was mostly hidden in the parka with the rest being covered by a bright pink toque, while pink mittens completed the outfit. Genevieve would wear something similar but the parka was black and the toque and gloves were a festive red. Gwen changed her outfit to something a tourist might wear; a fur trimmed jacket and gloves and brought out her camera to complete the look.

With our outfits chosen we spent the rest of the early evening waiting to go to the airport and while I drank the rest of our bagged blood from the hotel room’s mini fridge Gwen and Genevieve got room service. Once the young, and now slightly drained looking, bellboy was Mesmered into forgetting he was Genevieve’s dinner, we gave him a huge tip for being a trooper and providing such great service when he obviously wasn’t feeling well. After informing him that we would be leaving the room shortly to head home to Ottawa, we dismissed him. I think he was a bit sweet on me so I even gave him a slight peck on the cheek as a goodbye.

We arrived at the airport by taxi, having left the SUV in the hotel’s underground parking. As we gathered our bags and my laptop case from the trunk we noticed that the airport wasn’t terribly busy, but we had expected that with it being New Year’s Eve. Still, we saw them before they saw us. The Hunters were dressed conspicuously in black and standing close to the main entrance, pretending to be talking as they watched the people enter the airport. Did these people know the meaning of the words low profile? We looked around and spied a grey-haired airport security officer leaving from the exit. I smiled at Genevieve and Gwen, “I got this.”

For once my youth was an advantage. I ran up to the security officer, placing a terrified look on my young face. Genevieve and Gwen walked briskly behind me as if trying to keep up while not giving in to a child’s fears, “Excuse me Sir?” I asked, making sure to ‘breathe’ heavily, add a waver to my voice and give a fearful glance back at the entrance.

He looked down at me and smiled, “How can I help you Miss?” His look turned concerned as he caught the look on my face. I didn’t even have to Mesmer him.

“Ummmm… you see Sir,” I nibbled on my lower lip a bit, making sure to throw another terrified young girl look in the direction of the entrance. “There’s two scary looking guys in black at the entrance and I’m a bit scared to go in. There’s these lumps in their jackets and I think they could be guns. Could they be terrorists?” I was lucky all this was technically the truth since I still didn’t know the range on Genevieve’s ability, though I assumed she had to be somewhat close.

Genevieve ‘caught up’ with me, and smiled at the elderly guard, “You’ll have to excuse my cousin, she watches too much Television I think. She’s a bit nervous about her first time flying and those two men seem to have frightened her a bit.”

He looked kindly at me before turning to my ‘cousin’. “I understand Miss, I have a granddaughter about her age. Why don’t I take you in through the security entrance and I’ll send a team to make sure those two men aren’t up to any trouble, you can’t be too careful these days.” He smiled at me, trying to be reassuring, “Would that make you feel a bit safer?”

I made a show of breathing a sigh of relief, not that I could actually breathe, and let a brief look of relief pass over my face before putting on another nervous smile. “Thank you so much Sir that makes me feel a lot safer.”

He introduced himself as Roy and took us to a more secluded entrance along the side, bringing us into the airport security office. Once there he passed on to the dispatcher that there were two suspicious men wearing black at the main entrance that could be armed and that I was a bit scared. After I gave a description of the two men in question he nodded to Sally the dispatcher. “Can you send a team to go check those men out? I’m going to take these young ladies through the baggage check and make sure they get to their departure gate safely.” He gave me another of those reassuring, grandfatherly smiles.

I gave him a genuine smile in return; this was easier than I thought. The hardest part was not smiling and looking properly scared when we heard someone over Roy’s radio say that the men at the gate were armed and being taken into custody to await pick-up by the police. Roy winked at me, smiling once more, “Good eye, you’d make a good security officer.”

I looked down at my feet mock-shyly, “Oh no, I don't think I could ever do what you do.” We made our way through airport security and soon all our bags checked out as safe and were sent along the conveyor belt to join other luggage bound for Vancouver. We were able to keep our purses and my laptop with us as carry-on. We kept our eyes out for any more suspicious men, but thankfully didn’t encounter any, and Roy left us at our departure gate after polite farewells were made.

As we waited for our boarding call I made a show of buying a diet coke to drink while Gwen and Genevieve fished out their cell phones to make a few calls. Genevieve had to call her Mother, Carmilla, to inform her of Carly’s death. Gwen on the other hand needed to phone her pilot Rick Poole, who had been a mutual friend of ours growing up, to arrange for a meet-up and her mom to tell her of our situation. I on the other hand was trying my best to act like a bored teenage girl while keeping an eye out for any trouble.

Twenty minutes later our boarding call came and Genevieve made sure we were the last ones to board. The guy at the boarding gate took our tickets and asked for our ID. I was almost ready to panic when I felt Genevieve’s cool hand on my shoulder. She and Gwen showed their ID while I was lucky that since it was a domestic flight and I was technically a child I didn’t have to show ID so long as I was accompanied by an adult. Genevieve showed him a blank piece of paper and Mesmered him into believing it was a legal document showing her as my legal guardian so that there were no issues. We then boarded and were welcomed aboard by the friendly flight attendants of Air Canada and escorted to our seats.

How does one describe being stuck in a plane for five hours as a Vampire? Think of an alcoholic working at a bar or maybe a starving person surrounded by food and forbidden to touch anything. It could have been worse though, I had the window seat and with it being New Year’s Eve the plane wasn’t terribly crowded. Still, I was glad I had learned some measure of control before this.

To keep my mind off all the food around me I opened my laptop and started to play solitaire. That got boring after the first hour so I packed the laptop away and taking a deep breath I really didn’t need to take I decided to make conversation. “So Gwennie-bee, how have things been since I left? I never really asked you during any of our past conversations.”

She seemed to consider a bit before looking over at me, “The town is pretty much as boring as when you left, I’ll tell you more about that when we have a little more privacy though.” She gestured widely at the seats around us. “As for the family, mom is as stern as always but there’s good reason for that. Your mom hasn’t changed either, she still thinks she knows better than anyone else and she makes sure they know it. Your dad misses you K, he’s never agreed with your mom’s decision and he thinks that it drove a wedge between you. He had plans for you, but your mom and now your current situation have made those plans impossible. I think if you ever get the chance you really need to talk to him.”

I shrugged noncommittally, “I’ll think about it.” I looked at her and asked what was on my mind, “And what about you Gwen? How are you?” She had taken the whole Hunter thing well enough but she was the only one in my family I’d ever really had any sort of connection with and I was a bit worried about her. She’d been quiet, holding something back and it had been getting worse ever since we left for the airport. I wanted to make sure it wasn’t something serious. “What’s up in Gwen’s world?”

“Well, the bookstore is doing fairly well, I’m actually thinking of hiring some extra help soon.” She looked away into the aisle, “Other than that there’s only one thing and I really shouldn’t bother you with it.”

“You know you can’t lie while Genevieve is here so you’re trying to avoid the topic.” I responded quietly as I crossed my arms looking at her crossly, “Something is bothering you, now tell me what it is.”

She sighed, looking at me a bit sadly and she spoke quietly. “K, before I left for Toronto Rick asked me to marry him.” She reached into her purse, pulling out an impressive engagement ring and slipped it on her finger, “He said if I found Keith I was supposed to ask him to be his best man.”

“Well that obviously isn’t happening now,” I said gesturing at my body after a cautious look around, “Afterall, ‘Keith’ is missing and most likely dead. Congratulations though, he’s a good guy and I’m happy for you both.”

Gwen nodded, and gently took my hand in hers, “Well I was thinking there might be a way you could be involved, but I’ve been a bit reluctant to ask.”

I glowered at her, “I am not being the flower girl for anyone’s wedding, so you can just get that thought right out of your head. I’d sooner be dead.” Genevieve, who was obviously not as asleep as she was pretending to be chortled at that. At least she had the decency to look embarrassed, though Vampires can’t really blush.

Gwen did blush slightly as she said, “Actually I was hoping you’d be my maid of honor.” Seeing the look on my face she quickly raised her hands to hold off my answer, “Just wait a minute K, hear me out.” I closed my mouth halting my answer and motioned for her to go on. “Think about it K, I’ve never really had a lot of girlfriends at least not my age. I was a tomboy until I was sixteen and mostly hung out with you and Rick. The only female relative I have other than my mom is?”

“My mom of course, duh we both know that.” I rolled my eyes as I leaned back in my seat.

She nodded, a smile forming on her lips. “Given that and your mom’s general attitude, who do you think she’s going to believe is a shoe-in to be my maid of honor?”

“Herself of course,” I snorted in a very unladylike manner.

She grinned broadly at Genevieve and I, “So how do you think she’s going to take it when you get the job instead and your lovely ‘cousin’ is my bridesmaid?”

My eyes lit up as I matched her grin with a feral one of my own, “I’m in.” So for the next hour or more the three of us talked wedding plans and Gwen relaxed considerably. I relaxed as well. I still wasn’t too keen on going home, but at least I had Gwen and Genevieve to help make it bearable.

I woke to the announcement that we would soon be landing at Vancouver International Airport and I sat up in my chair and made sure my safety belt was properly fastened, safety first and all that. Soon I felt a gentle bumping as the landing gear hit the runway and we were making our way toward the departure gate. Once the plane stopped we waited until most of the other passengers had disembarked before gathering our things and exiting the plane.

Rick was waiting for us as we left the departure gate. He hadn’t changed much since I’d left; he still had black shoulder-length hair, blue eyes, and I thought he must still work out fairly regularly because he was pretty muscular. I was glad Gwen had him since I knew he was a good guy and he was pretty cute too. Dammit I just thought he was cute. Rick came up to meet us, wrapping Gwen in a big hug, “I’m glad you’re back safe. I should have gone with you.” He turned to give us the once over, “These are the friends you mentioned then?”

Gwen smiled as he let go of her and gave him a kiss, “Yeah this is Genevieve and Kayla.” Feeling a bit hurt that he didn’t recognize me, even though I had been trying to prepare myself for that, I took his offered hand to shake once he had let go of Genevieve’s. He was being polite but it was obvious he didn’t know what to make of us. It was like he was trying to decide whether he was attracted to us or scared to death. I wondered exactly how much Gwen had told him.

Rick nodded in the direction of the baggage claim, “Well let’s get you lovely ladies to the baggage claim and see if we can retrieve your bags sometime this year.” Checking the time, I realized that it was 12 minutes to midnight. The year would soon be over and a new year would begin and with the all the new changes it was like I would be starting my life over when that clock hit twelve. I only hoped this life was better than the last and wished that Carly could have been here with us to see it all begin. The sadness and uncertainty must have been visible on my face because Genevieve reached down to take my hand, squeezing it gently in her own as we made our way to our new lives.

We did get our luggage before the year ended, but just barely, and soon we were on board Rick’s seaplane and on our way to Sena Island. We had missed the one ferry that goes there once a week and the only other ways there were by flying or boat. Gwen spent most of the half hour trip there telling us what we could expect at the island. She figured at some point the Coven and the Unseen Council would want to speak with us and then we would have to figure out what to do with our lives there.

At one point I interrupted her, asking quietly, “Should we be talking about this with him here?” I nodded my head pointedly at Rick, who turned back and gave me a wink.

Gwen shook her head smiling, “Don’t worry about Rick. He’s a Dud, and my Warden.”

“Is anyone I know normal?” I muttered to myself, as Genevieve put her arm around me, giving me a comforting squeeze. I smiled up at her and tried to shrug it all off as I remembered a question I had been meaning to ask since Gwen mentioned the engagement, something I had only recently realized was odd about our family. “Gwen, are you going to change your name to Poole when you get married?”

She thought about that a moment, “Probably not. It’s kind of a family tradition that women carry on the Roseberry name when they marry. It’s like that in most Witch families here actually. Rick’s little sister Natalie will carry on the Poole name.”

I thought it strange that I didn’t remember Rick having a sister. I was so distracted by that that I slipped up, using Keith’s nickname for him as I asked, “So Risk, how long before we land?” I quickly shut my mouth as he turned, giving me an intense look. He stared for an uncomfortably long moment before turning his attention back to flying.

“We should be landing in a few minutes,” was all he said, though I noticed him turn give both Genevieve and I several more long glances before we finally landed on the water and made our way to the docks. I was home and I wasn’t quite sure whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.