CHAPTER NINE

INVITED AND UNINVITED

I DECIDED TO dress down for the Societas Obscura: jeans, black-and-silver shirt, black jean jacket, running shoes. I considered wearing my leg guards from field hockey but decided that might be a little distrustful and left my favorite hockey stick behind as well. The maelstrom stone goes everywhere with me, so that was a nonissue.

I stood at my windowsill where my dwarven bracers had been gathering daylight and storing it in the golden gems studding them. I finally put them on, but under my blousy shirt sleeves. They gave a little hint I wore something about my wrists but weren’t entirely revealing what as I grabbed my jacket and trekked downstairs. Scout trotted down beside me, missing the last step, and should have sprawled at the bottom but twisted in midair and managed to land on all fours. He shook his head vigorously as I snorted at him.

“Grace.”

He gave me a look before leaving my side and heading into the kitchen without me.

My mother and Steptoe sat at the table, having an evening snack, sipping hot tea and enjoying fresh muffins. I hadn’t smelled them baking which told me how preoccupied I’d been with armoring myself for the meeting. No wonder Scout had missed a step in his hurry to get to the smells. It’s a wonder he hadn’t busted through my bedroom door to get downstairs.

“Smells good.”

“Cherry wonders,” Steptoe managed before reaching for another muffin. My mother shot him a look, a warning I recognized but didn’t think he would. It was the “you better slow down and leave some food for the others” stare.

I sat down and helped myself. Still warm. I watched as melted butter trickled through his fingers as he picked it apart delicately and gobbled each fourth down. I ate slowly, savoring the tart/sweet cherry chunks. “Aunt April’s cherries?”

“Of course. No one puts up fruit the way she does.”

My great-aunt had the devil’s own luck gambling, addicted to it but fighting her obsession successfully, yet I think her better talent was in preserving. Maybe that was because Potion Polly hailed not too far back in her line. Whatever it was, Aunt April had the talent to can and bake with the best, and Southern belles had a reputation for those abilities. I quickly snatched up a second muffin before Simon could clear the plate, and my mother shadowed the movement. That left a solitary pastry on the plate which he eyed sadly before looking up at my mom.

“Go ahead.”

His hand moved so quickly I barely saw it, reminding me that despite his veneer, he was not and never would be human. I found myself shrinking back just a little. My mother’s foot jabbed my ankle lightly, jolting me, and I managed a grin before slipping a corner down to Scout who’d decided he owed allegiance to me after all.

Steptoe arched an eyebrow at me. “Date night?”

“Society.”

He winced. “I can ’ear the professor now.”

“Me, too, but it wasn’t one of those invites you can refuse. Besides, I need more teaching than you can give me.”

“Ow. You wound me.” He placed a hand on his suit jacket over where his heart should be, leaving a tiny buttery fingerprint. It disappeared even as I noted it in fascination. “Be that as it may, do you need an escort?”

“You weren’t invited.”

“Nonetheless.” And he shrugged in his magical jacket which could render him invisible once removed and used as a cloak. He ignored the expression on my mother’s face as her lips tightened.

I traded a look with her. Did she want me to take along help or feel it might be courting more trouble? Not that I knew I was in trouble; it just seemed a foregone conclusion. She said nothing. “Mom?”

After a long pause, she shook her head. “That’s not a decision I can make for you.”

I shrugged. “Thanks for the offer, Simon, but no.”

“Sure, ducks?”

“Pretty sure. Scout is staying home. It’ll just be me, the stone, and my bracers.” I smiled at him as I finished the last of my treat.

He twisted slightly in his chair, and I’m fairly certain Mom couldn’t see the wink he gave me. “As you wish.”

I stood up quickly, gathering teacups and saucers to load in the dishwasher before the expression on my face gave me away. I had three of his signature flash-bangs in my pocket so I probably wouldn’t need his backup, but it might be kind of nice to have. All said, it was a heck of a thing to need assistance if I was going to be visiting friends. Still the idea appealed to me. If the professor were here, he’d probably insist on going with me. I missed the idea of Carter being available, no matter what. The thought made me sigh.

My mom turned around at the sink. “What is it?”

“Just thinking about Brian and the professor.”

She put her hand on my shoulder. “I know.”

I made a little face. “He’d probably just make trouble, anyway.”

“Too right,” Steptoe said. “He hated the Society.”

“I never really understood why.”

He dusted himself off after standing and pushing his chair back under the table. “That history is not one I’ll be telling. He’d have my ears as well as my tail again if I did.” He gave a half-bow. “I’ve got some things to take care of, and it’ll be a late evening for me, Mary. Don’t be alarmed when I come in.”

“Oh, I won’t. I have the intrepid Scout here protecting me.”

The dog in question let out a woof. Steptoe disappeared out the back door. I checked my phone for the time.

“I’d better head out to the front porch. They said eight o’clock but might be early.”

“I have a feeling everyone in that bunch is precise to the second.”

“I know.” I slipped my phone back in my pocket. “It figures.”

Mom started the dishwasher cycle. “Anything on Dad yet?”

“Not yet, but there’s a lot of history in that journal. I should probably skip ahead, but I’m afraid of missing a detail or two.” I leaned a shoulder against the archway to the living room and foyer. “You know there’s scattered magic all through Dad’s line?”

“There’s a weird kind of logic to that, knowing what we know now.”

“Do you think he magicked you?”

“Into loving him?” My mother gave a slight laugh. “Oh, you should have seen him in college. He was a star on the golf team, with his talent and his slight southern drawl. Girls couldn’t keep away from him. We Yankees find southern gentlemen irresistible. I saw something in him the others didn’t, though, and it took him a while to realize that I wasn’t interested in dazzle but substance.”

“But he chose you.”

“Eventually.” She dried her hands on a dish towel and corrected me. “We chose each other.”

“What happened to the pro golfing?”

“He tore a rotator cuff. Never was quite right after that even with surgery, and he gave it up, long before we were married. It shook him more than he wanted to admit. Most of the Andrews families were hard workers, calluses on their hands, uniform shirts on their backs, and dust in their eyes. He didn’t want to work that hard, tired to the bone all the time, and thought he had a different life planned. That’s why he jumped at the golf scholarship, even though it was so far from here, from home. It was the best offer he had—and mind you, he had several golfing offers, but he took the most profitable one. Then he lost it all. He settled for an office job after college, in insurance, but you and I know, now, that he’d become addicted to dazzle. He wasn’t sure if I’d follow him back to Virginia. He liked to joke that it was the coast and pine trees that made up my mind.”

That was the most she’d ever said about the private things between her and my father. Things parents don’t usually discuss with their children—the uncertainty, the bumps in the road. Then, as she’d noted, we’d weathered a lot of those bumps together in these last few years. I put my hand out, took her in, and hugged her.

“Things are better now.”

“They are, aren’t they?” Her face brightened a little.

“I’ve got to leave.” Letting go, I gave her a little hand wave and set off for the outdoors.

A slight but very frigid wind slapped me in the face as I closed the front door behind me. A voice said, “I’m here and ready to go.”

“And cold, too, I bet.” I hesitated and then said to invisible Steptoe, “I appreciate the backup and you’re wonderful to offer, but I need you to stay home with Mom.” I knew from the wink he’d given me that he would use his suit jacket as the invisibility cloak it could become, and follow me when I left. But I didn’t want him to; I wanted him at home protecting my mother.

“Why?”

“There’s something that’s been watching us on the street. Goldie let me know. Scout didn’t catch scent of it until I hauled him all the way out to where it had been standing, and the tell-tales don’t seem very aware of it.”

“That’s not good.”

“It might be a guardian Carter put on sentry because he’s on assignment and worried about collateral damage. Or it might be something nasty,” I added, remembering Scout’s fearful reaction and my dream.

“Don’t you worry, then. I’ll be right here. But not outside, I think.”

“That’s fine.” I heard very faint footsteps as he took his leave.

Scanning the neighborhood, I could smell smoke from two or three nearby chimneys, and lights on the block seemed steeped in that golden glow that deep night brought on. The wind touched its icy fingers to my cheeks and nose as I shrugged into my jacket’s collar, thinking I should have brought my nice wool scarf with me. The sky had begun to cloud up, skirling in on that breeze as if it wanted to be an actual storm front as Simon had predicted, and I debated darting back inside long enough to fetch that scarf and some thicker gloves.

A white-blue beam cut across the end of the street as a car turned the corner and headed right to our address. My ride had shown up, and I was out of time for last-minute decisions.

The car stopped, and a back door swung open silently.

No one got out, but I knew the vehicle waited for me to step in.

It seemed a cold welcome but nothing to the one I anticipated receiving when I got delivered.