Chapter 16

Sixteen

The first phone rings around eleven in the morning, and Joshua answers it with an indulgent smile. After a while talking with his mother, he says his goodbyes, and ends with an "I'll tell her."

"What are you going to tell me?"

"My mother would like to welcome you to the family… ‘properly' which I can only assume means in person and probably in Ohio.

"Which means it would have to be soonish… traveling is going to get tricky by the middle of next year."

"And we still have to figure out exactly what and how we're going to tell the families." Chase says watching me while chewing on his lip. "Speaking of…" He picks up his phone and leaves the room.

"I should probably get it out of the way too." Thomas lets out a long sigh. "It's not that I don't like talking to them, it's just that my mom is not going to let me off the phone until she's given me at least five guilt trips."

When he goes into the living room, Joshua looks at me, nose wrinkled. "He hasn't been home in (ten) years."

Johnny chuckles, "The second he tells her about you, it's going to be ten times worse… when she finds out you're pregnant. Watch out."

"I take it a different kind of onslaught is coming my way?" I chuckle. After Aphrodite's dealt with, a future grandmother should be a piece of cake. "What about you?"

He shakes his head. "No calls to be made. I cut ties a while ago. No regrets."

And then it's my phone that rings…

"Mother?" I ask when I answer. Because she certainly isn't calling for Christmas.

"I had a dream."

"Ah… and what was this dream about?"

"A little girl raised by four fathers to be completely feral."

"By your definition, or the dictionary's."

My father chuckles. I should have known I was on speaker phone.

"Do you have something to tell us, Bagel?"

"We both know mom's dreams always come true."

"We know nothing of the sort." Her words are sharp and for a moment I wonder if she disapproves.

"Yes, you can expect your first grandchild in September, assuming Aphrodite doesn't kill me on the full moon."

The jubilant crow from my mother dies in an instant. "What?"

I explain, and the other end of the line is quiet. I imagine they're sitting there, staring at each other, options flying through their mind.

"The crawl space." My father says, something tapping on their end of the line. "My grandfather's collection of hexes, jinxes, and counterspells should be down there."

"The spells I found in Mrs. Miller's basement. They were written by Renée." I know it's a lot to ask. "Do you think you could ask her if she can think of anything?"

"Not without her assuming we're accusing her of something. But I'll do it, anyway."

"Be careful." My mother lets out a shuddering breath. "We'll see what we can find up here."

"Somehow," Johnny says as I hang up. "I thought they'd be in a rush to get down here."

"This isn't something they can help with by showing up. She's haunting me . I have to be the one to stop her."